


The Kingship: Another Tale to Be Told

by Chryolain, GlitchedStreams, KeithMontalbo



Category: RWBY
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Gen, Pre-RWBY, Pre-Volume 1 (RWBY), Side Story, Volume 1 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:09:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23941336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chryolain/pseuds/Chryolain, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitchedStreams/pseuds/GlitchedStreams, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeithMontalbo/pseuds/KeithMontalbo
Summary: Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily... that the stories we are told are but a fragment of the worlds they once were.Within the tales and ballads, there is a story of the last silver-eyed warrior, and her found family embarking on a journey - learning, loving, and losing. However, their tale is not the only one of their time. Within every great age are more heroes than can be counted... and more threats than can be faced alone.This is a tale, not of saving the world, but of saving humanity. A tale of how humble beginnings, and no less than an age's worth of courage, can lead to the brightest of futures... or the darkest of ends.This is another tale to be told. The tale of a warrior and a trickster, the crew that made them great... and the trials that made them legends.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	1. Stolen Starts

“In the world of Remnant, as far back as anyone can remember, there has been a war between the forces of darkness and the warriors of light. These brave warriors wield the power of dust and glorious weaponry to fight off the creatures of Grimm! Among their ranks stands one above all others! One who will rise to shine brighter than the rest! One who is destined to become the world’s greatest huntsman! That one is I! The great Obsidius!”

“Obsidius! You can’t keep putting your name in at the end!” A small boy kicked at the dust of the alleyway as he pouted to his friend, “We’re pretending to be the guys in the video game, and the guys in the game aren’t named Obsidius!”

“Where’s your imagination, dummy?” The boy who had been ranting, a blue and black haired child of no more than 6, stuck his tongue out and made a taunting sound.

The two boys were set quietly outside a workshop, a bundle of cans in one corner and sticks in either of their hands. The quiet light of a nearby backdoor eked out alongside the clinking of a forge, and the pair of boys did their best to stay close enough that their guardians wouldn’t come shouting.

Obsidius stood tall on a trashcan nearby, as his companion Matte stared up at him with an angry scrunch, and folded arms.

“Sometimes I question how you’ve managed to live this long.” The older boy remarked.

“By fighting spirit and deter-det-er!”

“Determination. Yeah, yeah I got it. And my parents feeding us every night.”

“Well, maybe!... But I am gonna pay them back a thousandfold when I grow up into the greatest hero ever!” Obsidius jumped off the trash can, and landed with a thud in front of Matte, startling the little brunette, “Why don’t we start today?”

“S-start what?” Matte shook off the shock and squared up to his friend, “Obsidius I swear to the gods-”

“The gods aren’t here, but we are!” Obsidius planted a thumb to his chest, “And your parents work their butts off so that we can eat… sooooo…” Obsidius looked expectantly to his friend who only shrugged.

“We should thank them?”

“And you say that I’m the dumb one!” Obsidius turned towards the end of the alley and pointed off towards the unseen horizon, “You and I are gonna pay them back!”

“Oohhh!” Matte smiled as he realized what his grinning friend meant, “Let’s go buy the food for dinner tonight!”

“Yes!...” Obsidius stopped and made a face as if he had suddenly tasted something sour, “except… we don’t have any money.”

“... How do we… get money?”

“Jobs?” Obsidius shrugged,

“Dude… we’re six. Best we can do is run to the market and take some stuff.”

“But that’s stealing… that’s not heroic.” Obsidius crossed his arms angrily, and stomped his foot.

“Sometimes heroes need to do bad things… to do good things.”

“That’s stupid, you just want to steal stuff!”

“Cause Atlas is full of stuff to steal and suckers to steal from. Plus we’re cute, they might just  _ give _ it to us.” Obsidius raised an eyebrow as he judged the older boy, and then finally sighed.

“Okay, but we will only be taking food… because food is a necessity. No stealing money, and no taking anything else… deal?”

“Ugh, fine, Aladdin!” Matte scoffed, and turned his nose up, “Just shut up and let’s get dinner.” He marched off down the alleyway, making sure to lighten his steps to avoid alerting his working parents. Obsidius bounced on his heels and punched the air once or twice to pump himself up and then set off after his friend.

“So… who is Aladdin?” 

~

Matte shuffled through the crowded marketplace as the citizens of Atlas moved this way and that, as if guided by unseen hands. Shopkeepers screamed out offers at the top of their voices to attract customers as the young boy wandered underneath it all. Following right behind him was Obsidius, trying his best to keep excited despite the fact that the trip had been very boring in his opinion. The open air farmer’s market was filled to the brim with all the ritzy Atlas citizens that he hated the most, but this was the only open market in the city. Which, Matte assured him, meant the thieving would be easier.

“Okay, what you want us to do is only take what we absolutely need. Which means we have to focus.” Matte told him, nonchalantly swiping a pocket watch from an unsuspecting adult who was too busy arguing with a scarf vendor to notice, the boy smiled as he opened it and checked the jeweled face.

“Did you need that?” Obsidius asked, as the two children walked undetected through the river of people. Their small frames did well to hide them from unwanted eyes, and Matte inched towards the produce area.

“No, but I wasn’t focused… so I took it. Sue me.” The watch slipped into the boy’s pocket, and he slowed as they reached a corner. Matte stopped Obsidius in his tracks, and peeked around the corner. 

“Target acquired.” He indicated with two fingers to his eyes that then trailed across the nearby stalls to a spot where a woman was selling fresh bread and pasta. She smiled wide as she handed a baguette to a customer.

“Alright, what do we do?” Obsidius asked as they scoped out their target, and Matte licked his hand and reached up to fix his hair.

“I’ll woo the pretty lady while you grab as much bread as you can.” He popped his collar and smiled wide as he made sure his shirt was tucked in.

“Dude... we’re six.”

“Just go.” Matte ducked out of the crowd, and cleared the distance to the vendor in a few moments, and Obsidius nearly panicked as he glanced around for the best approach. After Matte caught her attention, he snuck off to the side where she had placed some loaves in a barrel to transport.

“Why aren’t you the cutest thing?” Obsidius heard the lady exclaim as Matte started chatting her up. The blue-haired boy glanced around to make sure no one was watching. ‘ _ Just some bread’ _ he told himself, as he reached into the pin and pulled out a pair of wheat loaves, ‘ _ Just because we need it. _ ’

Obsidius groaned at the thought that the distraction was actually working, and took a breath as he stuffed the bread into his jacket. He had managed to fashion very rudimentary pockets inside it using plastic and a little bit of glue, and, as soon as his ziplock pockets were full, sank back into the crowd. He went back around the corner, while Matte glanced his way. As soon as they made eye contact, Obsidius gave him a thumbs up.

“It’s been great, but I gotta go. I’ll call you!” Matte winked as he waved and walked toward Obsidius. Obsidius let out a sigh of relief as the tension left his body. He turned back around to disappear into the crowd when he heard the lady shout.

“Hey! Stop that boy!” Matte appeared in full sprint next to Obsidius with a leather wallet in his hands. 

“We’re busted! Run!”

“You  _ stole _ her wallet?!” Obsidius shouted as he started off after Matte through the crowd, diving between knees and under arms as he caught up to his friend.

“And her heart!” Matte laughed as they ran through the crowd. “And know, we have money to pay for more food if something happens to the bread!”

“We would’ve been fine with just the bread!”

“A good thief always has a backup plan!” The two kids weaved their way through the crowd, never stopping, always avoiding obstacles. They knew it wouldn’t be long before guards were involved, so they had to get away. Obsidius ducked under a table and erupted out the other side into a walkway as Matte slid over a separate table into the street nearby.

“A good thief wouldn’t need a backup plan!”

“Yeah but this is more fun, isn’t it?!” Matte shouted back at him.

“No! What is wrong with-” Obsidius was cut off as he smacked face first into something and toppled to the ground. He groaned and quickly scuffled to sit up, only to hear a quiet squeak of pain as his foot smacked into something. 

He shook off the dust on his clothes as he looked up to see a small girl on the ground across from him. Her dress was scuffed, and he had accidentally kicked her in the shin as he struggled to get up. Behind her a burly man, towering over the stalls had turned to her in shock, and was kneeling down towards the kids. Obsidius looked into the girl’s purple eyes as she teared up, and the man- at least Obsidius assumed he was a man, at that size he could pass for a building- started to mutter if she was alright.

“Boy, watch where you are going, you toppled my daughter,” The father wrapped one hand around the girl's shoulders and hefted her to her feet, “apologize.”

“Where did they go?” Obsidius turned his head back as a pair of guards shoved their way through the crowd. His head snapped back towards the girl and her father, and he smiled awkwardly.

“Doesn’t matter man, we gotta  _ go _ !” Matte screamed over the stall nearby, and Obsidius nodded.

“Sorry, I’ll make it up to you one day!” The blue haired boy said the words quickly, but he didn’t break eye contact with the girl for one moment, and she nodded once in response as he set off again, ducking under the tree trunks for legs that her father possessed.

“Goodness,” The man bellowed as the boy vanished into the crowd, “a spry one. Are you alright my little gem?” She didn’t reply as she gazed off after him. The guards approached, and she turned back.

“Mr. Reid, did you see a small boy running through here?” One asked, and the man took a moment before he chuckled.

“Plenty of them, after all this is a public market.” The guards groaned and set back off after a quick apology. The father and daughter watched them go, and then he picked the small blonde up and set her atop his shoulder, “Come along, Lymeria. Let’s get you an ice cream.”

~

The crowd thinned out as they approached the outer edges of the marketplace. Claustrophobia gave way to the cool Atlesian air. The only sounds that could be heard was the rapid tapping of the two boys’ feet. A small laugh rippled through the alleyways.

“See, that was great!” Matte laughed as he leaned on a nearby lamp post.

“I’m never stealing again.” Obsidius panted as he wiped the sweat off his brows. The bread weighed him down a lot while they ran.

“Ah, don’t be a baby! All we did was swipe some bread and a few bucks so that we can help my family out!”

“Stealing, huh?” A deep voice asked, startling the kids. They turned slowly toward one another and then behind them as a shadow approached. A burly man in an Atlesian Enforcer uniform was walking up to them, and crossed his arms as he looked down at the pair, “Did you brats steal something from the market?”

“No officer. My friend here means we stole a girl’s heart by wooing her.” Matte replied.

“Really? Show me the identification in your wallet.” The man commanded, towering over the two children. In his haste, Matte had forgotten to put the stolen wallet away. 

“Sir, I assure you, this is my mother’s wallet, as I am six-years-old.” The man shook his head slowly, and Matte groaned, “Not flying, huh?” 

“Not even a little.” Obsidius responded softly.

“Alright, plan B.” Matte grinned as he tossed the wallet to the officer. It hit the large man square in the face and as soon as that happened, Matte turned to Obsidius and yelled. “Scatter!”

Both kids took off in opposite directions, neither stopping to see who was behind them. But Obsidius knew in only seconds, from the thump of their boots, that the officer chased after Matte. The boy skidded around a corner and pinned himself against the bricks. He heard the shouts and taunts of Matte growing more distant as his chest heaved, and he struggled to catch his breath. He had no idea what to do, but his feet screamed to keep going. To run.

The alley was empty, and the guards wouldn’t look beyond the market. If he could avoid that officer, then he had a perfect break. All he had to do was run back to Matte’s house. All he had to do was run. He took a deep breath, and his feet moved. All he had to do was run.

~

“Let go of me, you big idiot! That’s really all I had!” Matte wriggled fruitlessly as he argued with his captor. He held Matte upside down by an ankle and chuckled as he tossed the boy about and shook loose anything in his pockets. A few playing cards, some loose change.

“I’m sure that you’ve got something-” The metallic cling of the pocket watch hitting the ground made the officer stop and smile slowly, “There it is. I have to make sure you don’t get away with any contraband.” He flicked Matte roughly on his face with his spare hand, and then dropped him to the floor.

“Ugh, dick.” Matte coughed as the blood rushed out of his head and back to the rest of his body.

“Since you’re just a kid, I can’t exactly put you in jail.” he chuckled. “But I can make sure you won't steal anything else.” His tone darkened as he cracked his neck, and then his boot connected with Matte’s ribs. The small boy tumbled away from the impact and sputtered as the air ejected from his lungs. Before he could move again, the boot was back, this time on his back. He groaned in pain as the man pushed him into the concrete. He struggled to grab at anything nearby, fumbling between the ground and the brick wall. All his hands found was the silver pocket watch he’d dropped earlier and cold dirt, and he muttered as he tried to suck in air. 

“Hey!” A voice shouted at the man, and he looked up just in time to see a trash can lid frisbee into his face. He stumbled off Matte, and shook his head as he felt at his face. He pulled his hand away revealing blood from a sharp cut on his nose. The officer growled and looked up to see Obsidius standing between him and Matte. The small boy pulled open his coat revealing the bread on one side, and a chipped rusty dagger hidden in a simple leather sheath. A few pieces of bread fell out of the plastic bags and lay scattered on the pavement, but the boy didn’t break eye contact. “If you want a fight, I’m right here.”

The officer turned to look at his new challenger. When he saw the 3-foot-tall child before him, he couldn’t help but smile.

“You're a brave kid, I’ll give you that.” he laughed. “I thought you’d run and just leave your friend behind.”

“A real man never runs.” Obsidius muttered as he held his small weapon. “And a real man doesn’t pick a fight with some little kid!”

“Hah, who the hell do you think you are? You’re just a street urchin, nothing more, nothing less. Nobody will even remember you.” He said condescendingly, “Come on then, I’ll give you the first shot.” The officer mocked as Obsidius charged him, his mediocre weapon at the ready.

With little to no effort, the officer grabbed Obsidius by the arms and slammed him into the ground, releasing his grip on the dagger. With not a moment to spare, he immediately picked Obsidius back up and brought him to eye level.

“I’ll ask again. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Somebody who sticks up for his friends. I-I’m a hero!” Obsidius muttered as he grit his teeth, forcing himself to grin down at the man. His forehead had started to bleed and blood trickled down his face. The taste of iron filled his mouth. Looking down, he was feet off the ground and there was no way for him to reach his dagger. The officer laughed, his own face bloody from Obsidius’ opener.

“And look where it got you.” The officer grinned as he threw Obsidius at the same wall Matte was at. Obsidius felt the air rush out of his lungs as his back hit the hard stone bricks that made up the surface. His battered body sank down next to his friends as they both struggled to breathe, Obsidius clutching at his chest, and Matte cradling the pocket watch as he coughed and groaned, “Did you seriously think you could beat me with this garbage?” The man asked, as he kicked away the lid that had rebounded off his head, and picked up Obsidius’ dagger. With little effort, he bent the small blade and tossed it to the side. 

Obsidius winced in pain as he tried to stay conscious. The guard smugly admired his handiwork before beginning to walk off.

“You’re not a hero. You’re garbage, and garbage will always be garbage. You can’t change that, kid. You can’t be a hero ” That was the last thing the officer said before Obsidius lost consciousness.

~

The clink of poker chips, the air of stale cigars, and the humdrum of back alley patrons drummed throughout the room. Vale had its share of upscale gambling areas. The kingdom was not opposed to the concept of gambling, and the more seedy types were certainly not opposed to turning every empty room downtown into a custom-built casino lounge.

This bred a certain dynamic in the underground of the kingdom. To put it simply, there were winners and losers, but if they could pay they could play. And the boy sitting in the center of the table knew damn well he was a winner. But he didn’t plan to let anyone else know that.   


“If I remember what my friend taught me, this is called going all in?” The boy stammered, his tone warbling and uncertain. He heard one of the other players scoff confidently.   


“Kid, you definitely should have practiced more before you came here. Unless you learn to read people, you’re dead in the water. But, you know what? I’ll humor you, all in.” The player chuckled as he pushed his chips in. The boy fidgeted with the top hat on his head as he looked over his cards again. In a shocking move, the two other patrons moved to do the same as the first, and suddenly the entire table was all in.

“Geez, guys, that’s a lot of Lien.” He’d blown in with all the intent of a plastic bag in the wind. The players had watched the kid as he’d ambled his way up to the counter and talked the cashier into trading out all his cash. No more than 17, they’d read him like a book, but he caught breaks on the odds. He’d been lucky enough to stay for a handful of games, but these seasoned players were ready to cut the mercy and go for the throat. So they went all in, and they waited for the dealer to reply.

“Yeah, it is ain’t it?” The first who had gone all in threw his cards down with a smirk, “Straight, show me what you got, gentleman.” The teen looked at his hand for a moment, appearing as though he might start crying. His fellow gambler sneered as he saw that he had beaten every other hand. “C’mon now kiddo, lay ‘em down.”

The boy flicked his cards, his defeated demeanor disappearing in an instant. He looked to the man with a grin on his face as he laid down his hand. Four of a kind.    


“You’re right, old timer. If you can’t read a bluff, you’re dead in the water. I read you all before I even sat at the table, not to mention played you all like a fiddle. Thanks for playing my game though!” The teen winked at them as he scooped the chips toward himself, “dealer, could you count and organize these?” He leaned back in his chair as the defeated men stomped off. Man, this always made him feel good.   


“Not bad, kid. But you’re not really supposed to be here are you?” A voice spoke behind him. The boy leaned his head back, gaining an upside-down image of the source.   


“So what if I’m not? You don’t seem to care.” He grumbled.   


“I don’t, actually I’d like to give you a run for your, well, their money. My name’s Mal Abbit. But since you’re obviously younger, you can call me Professor Abbit.” The man extended his hand and the boy reached over his own head to shake his hand from his lounged position.

“Professor, huh?”

“It’s a pleasure, I’m sure.” Abbit sat and slammed 20,000 Lien on the table. “Hope you’re not attached to that money.” The professor chuckled, the boy already used up his bluff and this guy knew it, but it didn’t matter. The boy had plenty of other tricks up his sleeves.

~

Hours blazed by, the teen had barely been able to scrape money off this guy’s pile, Abbit was betting too small and folding whenever the stakes were raised. It was seriously starting to piss him off. On the third hour, the brunette realized what was happening, this guy was going to try and pull him to do something stupid. He smiled to himself, knowing the move to make. He waited for the next round to start and made a quick move, shoving something to his left and tapping the table twice. He was again biding his time, waiting until the last moment. The young man pushed all his chips into the center of the table even though his hand only held a pair of twos. He watched the professor’s expression change to a crude smile before he followed suit. The younger of the players flipped his cards over, revealing his useless hand as the professor flipped over a flush.   


“C’mon now, kid! What were you thinking? Got too impatient? Let this be a lesson to you, patience is a virt-”   


“Not exactly.” The boy finally broke and let himself laugh at his opponent. He shifted his arm to reveal a singular chip sitting in place for a bet on a second hand. That second hand had been “all in” from the beginning, the big blind of the game. He had matched the big blind bet as soon as the round started to make sure the professor didn’t notice. “There’s no rule saying I can’t play two hands at once here.” 

With a smirk, he flipped the second set of cards to reveal the hand he’d been holding back, a full house. The professor’s jaw dropped, blown away by the deception. The laughter grew as the chips were pulled over to the second hand’s area, and away from the professor.   


“Wait! Wait… give me one more round!” Abbit yelled.   


“You’re out of money, dude.” The teen glared at him, still annoyed by the extensive game. “And none of your clothes are cool enough to take.” The professor’s head dropped his hands, in shock at all that he’d lost. He sat in thought as the boy collected the chips and turned to leave with his newly collected winnings.   


“Wait! I have one more thing I can give!”   


“What?” The teen groaned.   


“An opportunity, you like huntsmen, don’t you? I saw you packing when I came in here, that sword you gave to the guards. You wanna be a fighter right? Save people?”   


“Yeah? So?”   


“How would you like to be a huntsman, legitimately?” Abbit desperately offered.   


“Ha! Thanks, but I’m not academy material.”   


“I can get you in. If you win, I can get you into the entrance exams. If I win, I keep my money.” The boy stood for a moment, deep in thought. He glanced down at the racks of his chips. What was one more win?   


“Fine.” The teen sat his hat down on the table, his pony-tailed back tuft falling out as he did.   


“Thank you!”   


“This is against normal rules, you know?” The dealer stated with an annoyed tone.   


“And? You heard I’m not even supposed to be in here and did nothing, so you’re already in the hole.” The dealer glared as the boy called him out, punctuating his statement by sticking out his tongue.   


“You’re a cocky kid, you’re aware of that right?” The man shot back as he started to deal from the deck for one more round.   


“Well aware, sir.” The only reason he’d accepted the game is because he knew the truth, the table was hot, his hand would be dealt first with two face cards, he’d been counting. The cards were placed in front of them and he turned them up at the corners, confirming his theory. No extra bets to be made, one hand, all the cards were immediately put down: flop, turn, and river. “Oh look at that.” he tossed his cards into the center. “A royal flush.”   


“What?!” Abbit looked on with disbelief.   


“Entrance pass, please.” The boy extended his hand, grinning from ear to ear. Abbit’s head drooped as he pulled out his scroll and dialed a number.   


“Hello? Please put Headmaster Ozpin on. Thank you…” Abbit hesitantly looked at the boy, who now had his feet propped up on the table and his hat back on his head as he waited, tapping his pocket watch to say ‘hurry up.’ 

“Hello, headmaster. I seem to have… Is there any way I can get a pass to allow a student with… significant tactician skills into our entrance exam…? His combat skills? I’m- He’s spectacular, a real underhanded kind of fighter, but he’s… surprising.” The boy gestured as though he was taking a bow. “His semblance? Uh…” The boy simply responded with a shrug, and Abbit groaned, “It’s to be determined… really? Thank you, sir! He’ll be a shoe-in, I’m sure!” Abbit hung up the call and grabbed the boy’s hand, shaking it vigorously. “Well, kid… let me see your scroll, so I can upload your entrance exam pass.”   


“Uh… sure.” The scroll flicked out, a slim piece of hard-light projected into a screen. After a quick hand-off, the professor snapped a picture with the device, dazing the boy, and held his own scroll against the first. Within moments, a badge-like design appeared on the screen of the young man’s Scroll, displaying the photo, the boy’s name, and the Beacon Academy logo. “C’mon man, that picture looks terrible.”   


“Beggars can’t be choosers.” He responded.   


“Weren’t you the one begging me for another round… And then begging that headmaster to let me in?”   


“... Welcome to Beacon, Mr. Hattre.” Abbit chimed through gritted teeth as he glanced over the badge once more, and then passed the device back to its owner, “Matte Hattre, it’s a uh- unique name.”   


“Sure is,  _ Mal Abbit _ .” Matte winked as he straightened his hat, and smirked, “Whatever our names, doesn’t matter. You got played, and I got paid… Good meeting you professor, see you on exam day!” He stared at the badge on his phone, smiling, as he walked away from Abbit, the man flopped his head down on the table.

He was going to be a huntsman. His current gig would have to be ended, but that was easy enough. He’d just slip away sometime when no one was paying attention, along with everything that wasn’t nailed down. He pulled out his pocket watch and read it with a smirk. Oh yeah, he thought, Matte Hattre was going places.


	2. A Bump in the Crowd

While he thought he was going places, Matte Hattre hadn’t expected one of said places to be a boring and overpacked airship station. Filled to the brim with teenage hormones and high-caliber weaponry: a recipe for adventure. He tipped his hat back, gazed out over the crowd through his golden irises, and wondered exactly what he had gotten himself into. 

The airship dock was alive with energetic prospective students, each of them with only one goal in mind: Beacon Academy. The hatter, however, had more on his mind. He glanced around to each and every person around him, assessing their financial worth and likelihood of being a vulnerable hit. And to put it plainly… prospects were good.

Here he was, with every possible con at his fingertips. He could steal identities, trick a few punks into a game of find the ball under the cups, convince one to play some loaded blackjack, but despite it all, he went with the classics. Who had the easiest wallet?

The first target was dead ahead. A slim redhead in a loose fitting Mistral outfit stood amidst the crowd, reading over her welcome pamphlet. She had a prissy air about her, that kind of aura that screamed she had no concern for the outside world. No concern, meant no attention, which meant this would be even easier. He walked up closer, his hand ready, but not outstretched. This would be a moment, no one would even realize what had happened if he did everything perfect. His hand finally shot forward as he made the final approach… just in time for the target to turn around and face him.

“Hey there,” Matte quickly turned his reach into the gesture of a hand shake, “name’s Matte! Matte Hattre, wild how many people there are here, huh?” She glanced down at his outstretched hand, her eyes hovering over it, judging and weighing her options, before she glanced back up, and took it gently.

“I suppose so, but at the end of the day, only about 80% of us will actually make it to the academy. But I guess it’s nice to meet you, 20%. I’m Arian Pastel.” She dipped her head in a gentle bow, hardly more than a nod. She pulled her hand away and smiled ever so slightly.

“Okay, harsh,” Matte reached his fingers forward to stop her hand, and her smile immediately vanished, “Hey, want to uh- have your palm read? It’s a real neat trick.” He could save this, just adjust everything a bit and then he’d have an easy shot at the bill fold he knew she was keeping stashed in her coat. He just had to get the right angle.

“I appreciate the offer, but no, thank you.” She glared at him, and his free hand came up.

“C’mon, I’ve got plenty of magic tricks. It’ll just take a sec-” The instant his free hand touched her forearm, he heard a thud below, and felt a sharp sting in his foot. He glanced down at the point of contention, and tilted his head as he saw a sharp white feather piercing his shoe, the point driven directly in between the laces, “What the he-” The boy’s forehead was met with a sudden impact as another feather jutted into his skin. He lost his balance from the force, and his hand slipped off of Arian while he tumbled back onto his rump. His jacket went tumbling off his shoulders and his hat tilted off-angle as he rubbed at the spot that had taken the impact, “Ow! What the hell, lady?!”

“ _Oh no_ , did you mishear me?” She snapped, her face curling in disgust, “I _said_ ‘no, thank you’. I know your type, you little con artist. I wasn’t born yesterday.” She turned her nose up and crossed her arms, her coat disheveling just enough to showcase the monochrome feathers that ran up her arms. Matte adjusted his top hat on his frazzled, freshly-trimmed hair, and took in the appendages. He pulled his own jacket back up, resting it on his shoulders, but never taking the time to actually slide his hands through the sleeves.

“Okay, feather faunus,” The hatter huffed a sigh, “got it.” Matte pulled the feather out of his foot and stood back up. He tossed the small item in the air, adjusting to the weight as he inspected it, “I still don’t think that was necessary. After all, I’m a huntsman just like you, some decorum would be nice.”

“Huntsman-in-training, don’t get ahead of yourself... Let me guess.” She stepped back and looked him up and down. “You cheated your way into the system? Just like you were trying to cheat me? I don’t remember anyone mentioning Beacon having such low standards.” The slender girl turned and began walking toward Beacon’s airship. Matte jammed his hands into his pockets, mumbling to himself as the take-off alarm sounded, and everyone proceeded onto the ship’s ramp.

“I didn’t cheat.” Matte spoke as he caught up to the bird girl, “... Gambling is legal in this kingdom, and I happened to meet a professor who had a penchant for bad bets.”

“Gambling is legal if you’re of age… so you either have a baby face, or no, it was _not_ , in fact, legal. As far as _‘bad bets’_ go, I see that he let you in, and that’s not a gamble I’d risk.” Arian avoided eye contact as Matte followed her into the ship, trying his best to keep up, despite a small limp.

“Y’know what, I don’t even need this!” Matte flared his hands dramatically, “I’m trying to make my life better here, and you’re just being rude.” Arian stopped dead, and Matte thumped into her back as he tried to halt. She sighed deeply and turned back to him, her expression unchanging.

“I tend to do that… to people who won’t stop following me.” She smiled slightly, as she plucked her feather out of Matte’s wide spread hand, “It’s a big ship, Mr. Hattre. Feel free to find a seat far away from me and my feathers… before you ruffle them any further.” She turned on pointe, and walked away calmly as Matte stared dumbfounded. He watched as Arian strutted away, her pace not slowing or changing until she vanished beyond a bulkhead. Matte let his arms drop, and sighed.

“Gods, watching her leave is satisfying, but…” Matte pulled up the billfold he’d nabbed from her coat in the short span he’d bumped into her, “it is so much more satisfying knowing I won.” He pinched the metal feather that served to hold the billfold closed, and flicked it away nonchalantly with a tinny clatter. Then with a simple motion he slid the Lien into a pocket stitched within his hat, and sighed as he turned into the ship properly. What to do next?

He strolled along, stepping through bulkheads as the ship sealed itself, and lurched gently into motion. It carried itself into the sky as he carried himself over the threshold into the aft section. There were dozens of students, Matte could probably count upwards of a hundred in just his half of the ship, but none piqued his interest the same way Arian had. Especially after his negative experience with the bird faunus. His foot was still sore… and strangely numb. He just had to readjust, he told himself.

There was a faunus girl with a camera, a skater with curly red hair, a dainty one with flowers in her hair. All of them seemed so anxious and excited that none of them were taking the time to assess their surroundings. It probably helped that they weren’t expecting one of their fellow students to be a notorious thief, but, hey, that just made his life easier. He was five wallets, and a loose handful of change in, when he finally lost his streak. The hatter’s radar was firing off in all directions, hoping to find any new challenge when he was promptly met by an unseen obstacle.

The air was pushed out of his diaphragm, as an object collided into his stomach. He groaned as he glanced aside for any sign of what he’d crashed into. Nothing to either side, and nothing ahead. Then he glanced down, and discovered the culprit. His eyes were met with two beady black dots staring back at him and the smallest smile, stitched sloppily onto a white cotton beanie, nestled gently onto a head of blonde hair, styled to adorn this small sheep face with a pair of buns in the shape of horns.

“Hey, what the fuck, asshole?” A small voice piped up, and Matte nearly burst into laughter.

“I-... I’m sorry?” The hatter stammered out, suppressing giggles between words. The voice sounded like it belonged to a child. It was loud, and aggressive, but it was just… too high pitched for him to take it seriously, and the cursing only elevated the hilarity. The height of his newfound company certainly didn’t do her any favors, he thought, as the beanie tilted back to reveal a small, very angry face.

“What’s your problem, you _deaf?_ ” The girl crossed her arms and tapped her foot, as Matte patted his waistcoat, and did his very best not to laugh down at her.

“Whose small, sassy child is this?” Matte called out as he choked back the laughter, and the girl below him huffed, “I’m sorry that was rude of me.”

“Do you just go around walking into every person you see?”

“Ha, funny enough... I didn’t really see you down there.” Matte patted her on the top of the head and the girl growled at him like an angry dog, prompting him to slowly pull his hand back, “Okay, gotcha, we’re working with a _short_ fuse, I respect that.”

“Odd, I don’t feel very respected.” The girl squinted up at him angrily, and Matte nodded.

“Probably because I don’t respect people,” He tipped his hat to her vaguely, “but let’s start with an introduction. I am Matte Hattre, and you are… let me guess, on loan from munchkin land?”

“My name is Nera, and I’m getting really fed up with the wisecracks.” Nera put her arms down and rested her hands on her hips, her scowl never leaving her face, and her gaze never drifting from Matte.

He’d pushed his luck rather far when it had come to Arian, and that had ended with him making one enemy of one of his peers already. Matte didn’t like people, and certainly didn’t trust them, but having them trust him was a valuable tool. So he straightened up and stalled his giggles, as he nodded.

“Right, gotcha. Well, I’m gonna go before I dig myself a deeper hole.” He started to walk past, “After all, I can’t imagine you’d be able to help me climb out of anything deeper than your local sandbox-”

He threw out one last wisecrack before he made it past the girl, and suddenly he felt an object ahead of his shin. Normally he’d probably have only stumbled a bit, but with his foot still hurting from Arian’s feather attack, he lost all sense of balance. The floor rushed up to meet him, and Matte just barely managed to throw his arms down and slow himself before he collided with it. The girl he had been passing laughed quietly as his hat tumbled off his head, and dozens of metal playing cards slid out of his off-kiltered jacket.

“Oops, I’m sorry, I guess you didn’t see my foot down there before you tripped over it.”

“You’re very vindictive for someone so fun-sized.” Matte grumbled as he grabbed his hat, and the girl stomped her boot down in frustration. Then Matte went about the process of collecting the many cards on the deck, being sure to shoo away anyone who walked near them, “Next time try not to put us all in terrible danger with your revenge… or at least be more clever than tripping me.”

“Terrible danger?” Nera snarked as Matte grabbed the last few cards and began to shuffle them together, “What are you going to do, blackjack us to death? Or is your gimmick that you’re a hobo-magician, and you’re gonna poof us all away into your hat, like little, white rabbits?”

“A hobo magi- what? I dress very well!” Matte adjusted the brim of his top hat, and tugged on his waistcoat for emphasis.

“A top hat and a suit don’t mean much when they’re ratty and old.” Nera chuckled, and Matte groaned as he fumbled onto his knees and stumbled a bit. Matte quietly scrambled to get up while also trying to still maintain some air of decorum. His attempts failed as he struggled to stay balanced on his bad foot. Nera rolled her eyes, and extended her hand, “Do you want help up?”

“Aren’t you the one who helped me down?” Matte managed to stand on his own, brushing away Nera’s helpful hand, and patting himself down once more to ensure his clothes weren’t dirty… and eyeing them for signs of being ‘ratty’. Then he flashed the metal playing cards, angled them a few times to show them off, with the added bonus of reflecting some light right at Nera’s face, “These cards are dangerous, kid. Each one is packed with enough dust to make some grenades look like firecrackers. So, watch it with the tripping.”

“Got it, super dangerous. Which is why you keep them tucked in your coat pocket. The pocket of the coat that you don’t put your arms into, or really wear, aside from draping it over your shoulders like a weird cape. Very secure.”

“It would be very secure if you all would stop assaulting me!” Matte glared past his cards at the girl, and Nera raised an eyebrow.

“I am _so_ surprised that I’m not the first one to assault you, and as much as I’d like to hear the rest of _that_ story, I’d probably rather spend the day with an angry badger. So I’m going to go now… and if you want to keep your _‘cards’_ in one piece, drop the short jokes if we ever see each other again.” She shook her head as she walked past Matte, who kept the cards defensively between them as she went. The girl didn’t even look back at him, she just walked calmly to a lounge area and plopped down in a window seat. He finally relaxed and put his cards away. Then he stopped to consider his options.

He could continue prowling for a score. Technically, since he hadn’t meant to run into Nera, he could ignore her when tallying up the count of today’s successes and failures. Which, seeing as he had managed to nick Arian’s billfold, even if it hurt, meant he had no misfires today. The ship was on approach, which wasn’t surprising since the flight was only a dozen minutes or so, but it meant he had very little time before the crowds were moving again. Moving crowds meant lots of distracted people. Lots of distracted people meant lots of easy pickings.

He approached one of the bulkheads as the ship sailed past the last stretch of city below them and they were left to hover over the water of the lake that separated the kingdom and the academy.

Vale was enormous. The city stretched out over more square miles than he’d ever imagined back at Atlas, and each bit was bustling and lively. He’d seen a fair bit of the world since his days as a street urchin- the floating isles of Lake Matsu, the rolling sands off the Vacuo coast, and the titanic ice flows off Solitas- none of it made him feel so intrigued as this place. To see the city panned out below him as he stared out the rear of the airship, it sent a tingle up his spine, and for a moment the thought of petty larceny left his mind.

“It’s gorgeous isn’t it?” A chipper voice spoke up, and Matte glanced to the side. Soft cream hair blocked his view of the girl's face as she stared out over the rear railing of the ship.

“Yeah, the view is pretty nice.” Matte turned away a bit, trying not to engage too much. He’d learned long ago to avoid interacting too much. The voice of an old mentor rang in his head: ‘You never know who they’ll ask to pick you out of the line-up.’

“I hope I’m not bothering you!” The girl chirped, and Matte just nodded a bit. He meant it as a ‘yes, I’m bothered’, but naturally it was not taken that way, “Are you excited to be starting here too? I don’t think I’ve managed to slow my heart down for a second since I got to the continent!” Matte glanced back at the girl, taking a moment to note her Atlas based clothes, a messenger bag slung tight to her, and subtle green highlights adorning the ends of her hair. Then he met eyes with her, with every intent to give her some sort of cocky, snide remark, but instead he paused. 

Her crisp violet eyes didn’t lock with his for long before they darted back to the view of Vale growing ever smaller as they approached their destination. The look was so vibrant. She was so genuine, so sincerely excited. It would normally have made him sick, but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to bash her. He only managed a gruff sigh, and a shrug.

“Yeah, I suppose it is exciting.” He muttered, as he thought on his own levity.

“Lyme!” A voice called from the direction of front of the ship, and the girl next to him groaned, and turned to hide her face a bit, “We don’t ever look backwards! Only forward! That’s the way we roll!”

“Coming! It was nice to meet you!” The girl chuckled as she turned to Matte for a short moment, “Thanks for sharing your view for a second!”

“Lyme!” Matte rolled his eyes as the masculine voice shouted a second time, and the girl turned to walk away, hardly even slowing as she felt her bag bump against what she assumed was the railing.

“Odi, for pete’s sake! You’re not my babysitter!” She muttered as she walked away, trudging off to meet whomever was calling her. 

Matte waited until she was gone, and then breathed a sigh of relief, as he tossed the single dust crystal he’d stolen from her bag into the air. He held the crystal up to the twilight horizon, and smirked at it. Then he lowered it, and took the view in again. He knew in that moment why he couldn’t mock the girl’s excitement… it was because he felt the same. 

He was here. He had made it. He was not only in Vale, but he was about to be at Beacon, and not just _at_ Beacon. Matte Hattre took a deep awe-filled breath, as he finally accepted that he was going to Beacon Academy. He was going to be a huntsman. Then as he exhaled that deep breath, and the ship turned to dock with a hum and a hiss, he smiled to himself. He was going to be a rich huntsman too.

~

“You think they would give you some kind of map when you visit the brand new school, but no. No, they just let you off the airship, and have you freely wander around campus. I hate it here already.” Matte walked through the twisting walkways of Beacon Academy, passing the southern dorm hall for the fourth time as he tried to reorient himself. He considered his directional skills above average, and he considered his crowd-following skills even moreso, yet he had become lost within twenty minutes of getting off the airship. Now, after fifteen minutes of walking in circles, as the sun set, he began to let his frustration get to him.

The near alleyway echoed with the sound of his shoe’s heels, he felt like he’d walked into some other dimension. How can a school so big be so empty? Where are the students? Where are the professors? Where was _anyone_?

“You too, huh?” Matte stopped dead as someone spoke up behind him, and he turned to meet their source. He gazed at the boy, propped against the wall casually, every piece of him holding the air of a fashion model. Each article of clothing was perfectly clean and coordinated with soft pinks and blues accents. The gentle coloring was in direct contrast to the sassy smirk on the young man’s face.

“Yeah. You’d think they’d at least have some _signs_.” The hatter grumbled. “Any clue where we’re supposed to be going?”

“Not in the slightest!” The boy kicked off the wall and extended his hand, “So, _partner_ , let’s figure it out. I’m Taffy.”

“Matte Hattre.” He met Taffy’s hand and shook it once.

“Alright then! This way!” Taffy confidently marched out of the alley.

“Why would we go deeper into an already abandoned campus?” Matte sniped. Taffy stopped and put his hands on his hips as he turned to Matte.

“Oh? You have a better idea?”

“Yeah. I do. This. Right here.” Matte smacked the building they were standing next to. Taffy raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t hurt.”

The pair shoved open the doors and meandered their way in. The inside of the dorms were surprisingly quaint. Neutral-colored walls and a red center carpet were all that adorned the halls. However, just as the streets were, the dorms were completely empty.

“Is this some sort of prank? There isn’t a single person in this academy, is there?” The hatter huffed. They wandered for minutes on end, only getting more and more exasperated.

“Yeah, no, this was a great idea. We managed to find a whole _zero_ new people, but hey at least there’s air conditioning!” Taffy sighed and stretched his arms up over his head, “So, how’d such a… refined individual end up in Beacon?”

“That pause offends me.” Matte snarked back as he peeked into the nearest dorm room, grimacing at the small size of the room. 

“Alright, fair. Here, I’ll lead,” Taffy stepped ahead, and walked backwards to face Matte as he spoke, “I’m from Mistral, like long walks on the beach, enjoy a sunrise or two. Single, for now-”

“I thought we were discussing school, not our dating profiles?”

“We can do two things.” Taffy winked, and then giggled, “Anyways, got noticed in school for my singing talents, and my headmaster told me he would give me his recommendation for any school I decided to go to! Wherever I chose, he said, I could get a letter in. He was hoping I’d go to an art school for my voice, heh, imagine the look he gave me when I said I wanted to be a huntsman… priceless.”

“So you’re a diva?” Matte teased and Taffy scoffed.

“I’m a songstress, excuse you.” The boy turned back forward, and matched paces with Hattre, “Okay, now your turn.”

“I mean, in total my story’s pretty simple, went gambling in a casino not too far from here, some sad sack of a professor challenged me and well… now I’m here, with the full contents of his wallet and a free pass to this labyrinth.” Matte rambled as he peered into another door.

“Aren’t you too young to go gambling?” Taffy asked, propping himself against the wall.

“Matte Hattre is, but my six other IDs aren’t.” Matte closed the door behind him and shrugged casually.

“Hey, rock on, Hat Man. Sometimes you’ve gotta make the system work for you,” The singer piped up happily, “After all we all can’t be so blessed as those Atlas socialites who turn their nose up the moment they step through the door.” Matte paused for a moment, his hand still firmly on the door handle.

“What? Hey, ya know I’m fr-”

“Yeah, you know, those tools that think they’re too good for the silver spoon they’ve been fed with their entire life, demanding gold, or platinum, or diamond-encrusted, maybe bejewle- you get the point. Atlas folk can shove it, am I right?” Matte’s grip on the handle tightened, his knuckles whitening.

“I’m actually-”

“Oh hey!” Taffy interrupted Matte a second time and the Atlesian boy glared at the back of his head until he realized they had actually come across someone. So much for a friendly face he thought, as he stepped after Taffy towards their new find.

“Hey, kid!” Matte yelled as he sprinted down the hall towards the small figure at the end. The person turned around, revealing aged eyes and a bushy, white mustache.

“Young man, by no means am I a child.”

“Oh! Oh you’re old! And... short.” Matte stifled a laugh, and then immediately cleared his throat, remembering his encounter with the girl on the ship.

“Excuse my fellow lost boy, but we are horribly lost, Mr....”

“My name is Peter Port.” The man replied, glossing over Matte’s comment.

“... and stout?” The hatter whispered, prompting a backhanded slap from Taffy.

“Would you be able to help us get back?” Taffy’s attitude melted and he put on his sweetest smile. Matte only rolled his eyes as Port laughed boldly, placing his arms on his hips.

“My young charges, of course I can assist you. I’m always happy to aid those who seek to expand their knowledge here within these walls. Although, I note that only one of you actually seems to want my help." Port nodded to Taffy's side and the boy raised an eyebrow. He turned around and groaned as he saw Matte walking away from them both.

“No offense, but I am not following any one who calls me his 'charge' especially not this janitorial looking frump.”

“Beg your pardon?” Port stepped forward, “Did you just refer to me as a… custodian?"

"The word I used was _janitor_ , but if you wanna be proper about it." Matte shook his head, “Not to rustle your jimmies or anything old timer, but the last time I was referred to as a ‘charge’ it was a gang of wannabes, dragging me by my neck cause I looked at them wrong.

“I just want to get somewhere. I don't want to talk to anyone, or make friends, or pretend like I care about nice views, or school, or anyone's height. I just want to get started at this stinkin' school, so that I can get started on being done with this school. I came here with only one thing on my mind and that is to be a huntsman, and if I gotta do it alone, then so be it. I don’t need an ancient roly poly talking down to me. Or should I say up?”

“Where would such a well put together young man learn to be so disrespectful?” Port crossed his arms as he inspected Matte’s suit, and Matte chuckled vindictively. The boy pulled off his top hat and gave a dramatic flair into a bow.

“The homeland of the rude and stuck up, Atlas born and raised.” Matte looked past Port to Taffy as he spoke the phrase, and the boy blushed as he realized his faux pas, “Or more appropriately, the slums, where even Mantle would look at Atlas like it’s trash.”

“Clearly you are upset, but running around with a chip on your shoulder will get you nowhere young man.” Port stepped forward, and reached a hand out, “Now, we will greet again, properly. So that I may show you to the main hall, or you will force me to… extricate you.”

“Ha! I’d like to see you try.” Matte turned around, and Port harrumphed as he rolled his sleeves up.

“I warned him, did I not?” Port spoke to Taffy who nodded sheepishly as the professor stepped forward, Matte protested once, and then was… ‘extricated’.

~

The heavy metal doors creaked open, Taffy peered his head in as nearly every person in the room looked back at the noise, even those up upon the stage. The singer grinned charmingly before being led inside by Port, who was dragging Matte by his oversized jacket’s collar. The hatter held his arms crossed and scowled as his feet dragged across the carpet, then tile, until finally he was plopped into a seat.

“Thank you, Professor Port,” The gentleman at the microphone, a silver haired, bespeckled man, did his best to avoid grinning at Matte’s plight, “I take it we had a few strays roaming about campus.”

“Aye, but I’m not one to allow such things to go unresolved.” Port stepped back, “My apologies for the interruption, students.” Matte grumbled as he glanced around at the scores of students giggling at him. Eventually his eyes found a familiar face, and not one he enjoyed. Arian, a few rows over, smirked at him as he sulked, and then turned poshly towards the front with a smile on her face the entire way. Matte only grumbled more.

“I apologize for those of you who arrived late to our proceedings,” The man on the mic nodded curtly, “You will all be here to forge yourselves into the defenders of our future, so take what you will, learn what you must, and above all… enjoy your time here at Beacon. The world outside will not be so forgiving. School work, teamwork, etcetera. I shall look forward to seeing what you can all accomplish if you manage to dedicate your time… Ms. Goodwitch?” 

“Thank you, Headmaster Ozpin.” Matte cursed under his breath as a blonde professor stepped forward and revealed whom the speaker had been. “Now, students, allow me to welcome you all formally to Beacon Academy, if you check your scrolls now, you will see a full map of the campus.” Matte huffed in exasperation and sank even further in his seat. “You will gather tonight in our ballroom, where you will be given ample enough accommodations until the initiations tomorrow morning. Get your rest, and be prepared. You are dismissed.”

“Welp,” Taffy spoke up next to Matte, who only stared forward, dead-faced, “We managed to get here just for the end, but better than nothing… right?” Taffy raises his fist for a bump, only to be met with Matte getting up in one stiff motion.

“Don’t talk to me.” The boy turned and walked away as Taffy sat awkwardly in his own seat, glancing at Matte as he slowly lowered his fist, and looked around at the crowd.

“Uh, hey, I’m Taffy.” He said to a random boy passing by who only nodded and continued, “and I hate my life… thanks, Hattre.”

~

Hours whizzed by, as the throng of students moved from one building to the next, establishing their sleeping quarters in the giant ballroom. Cliques were formed, friends from old combat schools got together, and individuals from far flung continents introduced themselves and shared cultures. Then there was Matte, who found a cozy corner and promptly flung his sleeping bag and himself into it.

The area was raised a bit, set aside as a promenade for the main floor of the room, and it allowed him not only distance, but a good chance to look over the crowd. He observed a nearby group of Vacuo faunus who had settled in to discuss the weather in Vale. A few rows down a number of Mistral folk were sipping tea and discussing what they would do for the initiations the next day, while the skater he had spotted earlier tried to convince them all to have a dance party. He managed to spot Arian, chatting amongst a small crowd, she seemed to mesh right in with everyone else, which was odd to the hatter considering the second he walked up she turned his nose up at him. 

She chattered happily with a fox faunus who giggled at every joke or remark by anyone within their group. There was something in the way she interacted with them all, so casual. She was relaxed. Was he really so obvious in his earlier ploy that she had thrown her guard up? No, he had conned more people than he could count, and so many thought of him pleasantly to this day. So, how had she seen right through him?

Matte spent a little while longer looking around. He spied a couple of girls giggling around one in sunglasses and a beret, a boy who towered over his colleagues as he meditated. He spied Taffy serenading a group of people who had gathered around him. There were people reading books, sharing snacks, and dozens who were just meandering to introduce themselves. Eventually, he rolled over onto his stomach and faced away from the crowd.

He sighed and dug in his jacket pocket, fishing out a well-used notepad and a nub of a pencil. He spun the pencil gingerly as he stared at the page. There was plenty to tell them this time, but how much would they really want to hear? But he might as well try, even if he had to throw a few white lies in there.

_Hey Madre, Hey Pops,_

_I know it’s been a bit. Well… more than a bit. I’m sorry, travelling through Vacuo meant I couldn’t exactly send anything (at least not without fear of it getting stolen.) But hey, I survived at least! The jobs went pretty well, I picked up a few here and there as I could, so I’ll be sending some money with this! Hope it helps… At least it better, I got my ass reamed for it! (I know, language. Sorry Mom.) But, big news! I’m gonna be a huntsman, or at least training to be one. I’m actually writing this letter from Beacon Academy in Vale. One of the professors was just SO impressed with my skills he offered me a slot right then and there! So for once, you guys might actually be able to_ ~~_right_ ~~ _write back… if you have time I mean._

_It’s only the first day but I met a lot of really interesting people, made a few_ **“** **_friends_ ** **”** . _I know you always wanted me to make friends, Mom. And Dad, you’d like the headmaster, he seems a lot like you._ ~~_Kinda distant in the eyes… Ha, that was a joke_ ~~ _~~.~~ I don’t really know if you guys are even getting these. Or if you are, if they’re just sitting in the pile on the counter like all our other mail did, but if they are, OPEN THEM, there’s money! I know I’ve messed up, and I don’t know how you guys are handling it, but at least let me help when I can. I just really miss you guys, and I hope that you’re safe. _ ~~_After everything that I did._ ~~ _I just love you guys. I’m rambling a bit, so I’ll leave it here. I’ll write to you more often now that I’m in one spot._

_Wish me luck on my entrance exam tomorrow._

_Little Ace_

The pencil slowly lowered to the page as Matte read over his chicken scratch repeatedly. He sighed, and flipped to another page to rewrite the letter without the clearly written out phrases, but after making another typo that he had to cross out he decided it could wait for tomorrow. His family wouldn’t know if he sent it a day late, so he tucked the pad into his pocket, and rolled back onto his side.

His vision hovered over the crowd, all quickly settling for the night. How long had he been writing? The excited commotion had all but died away. He glanced out of the large windows, the moonlight seeping through and illuminating the room as the lights throughout the hall shut off with a hefty click. The hatter rolled over to his back and stared at the ceiling, his hand just barely graced his notepad. With a sigh, he picked it and the pencil up once more. He flipped to a fresh page.

_Hey buddy,_

_I made it. Beacon Academy. Just like we always said._

The hatter’s pencil stopped and uselessly dropped onto his chest. He ripped the page out, balling it up and tucking it to a pocket to throw away later. Stupid, Matte groaned as he thought to himself about the recipient of his three sentence letter. If he could even find it in him to write it, he wouldn’t even know where to send it, and it wasn’t like anyone would care when they got it. He hadn’t spoken to that boy in over a decade, he reassured himself as he rolled over, his partner in crime was a continent away living the dream.

Had he known where to send the letter, had he had even an inkling of where his childhood friend now actually was… he’d have known he only had to fold it neatly and walk it across the ballroom.


	3. Galas and Greatswords

The wind howled atop the sheer cliffedge. Below them laid the Emerald Forest, a vast expanse, infamous for its confusing layout and dense foliage, not to mention a few thousand creatures of Grimm. Matte tried to take in the full scope of the starting area. At least 30 platforms lined the ridge, each harboring an eager student, all of them writtled with anticipation. 

“For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest,” Ozpin began as he watched all the year’s initiates stand rigid at the edge of the cliff. Matte rolled his eyes, it was clear this speech was rehearsed and recycled yearly, and it was boring the crap out of him. Unamused, Matte glanced below the edge of the cliff. No clear footing to get down, but the branches below him were interlaced well enough, they would hold him if he dropped from around 20 feet. It was simple, all he had to do was drive his blade into the side of the wall and slide down, drop at a point where the branches would hold his weight and climb down from there. Easy.

His gaze moved to the potential students around him. Some faces were easy to recognize and Matte quickly profiled them. Taffy was down on the end, best to avoid him. Arian was further on his right, absolutely avoiding her. At least here he could worry just about himself, no classmates to hold him down. One moment to just- Wait, what had Ozpin just said?

__ “Excuse me,” Matte spoke up, and the Headmaster turned just his eyes to the boy, “What was that?”

“I’m sure it must be difficult to hear with all the silent students around you,” Ozpin smiled, and Matte tilted his head, “As I said, be precise and careful with your actions on the ground. The student whom you first make eye contact with once you are in the forest will be your partner at Beacon Academy for the remainder of your time here.”

Matte gulped comically.  _ Partners _ . No one had told him there would be partners. No one had said anything about needing a partner. Plus, eye contact? You made a multi-year partnership off of eye contact? If that was how relationships worked he and Arian would have been best friends. Oh gods, what if he made eye contact with Arian first? He quickly took a deep breath, and began to assess the students again. He had to find someone who would work. 

They couldn’t be like Taffy, the sass would get to him. They couldn’t-  _ could not _ \- be Arian, because she’d murder him in his sleep, or at least her stares would. They’d need to be pliable, preferably quiet. He could do a partnership if they just… never talked. There were dozens of students, and he had no time as Ozpin’s speech ground to a close. He mentioned something about landing strategies, perfect. Matte already knew his way down. So he focused on the faces. A ginger girl with a bushy tail, the skater, the bunny girl with the camera, a girl in every fancy brand known to Remnant with a minigun, the pint-sized terror Ner- wait a minigun?! There was no time, he heard a loud clang down the line, but ignored it. Matte’s frantic analysis continued until his eyes locked to a vision that stirred something deep within him. 

Planted next to the girl he’d seen on the airship, the excited one, he thought her name was ‘lemon’? He didn’t know, he didn’t care. Because next to her was a boy dressed in all sharp Atlas style. His hair swept up in a black and blue flair. Matte went wide eyed and stood to attention, as another clang sprang next to him.

“Obsidius?” Matte questioned himself, just as the plate beneath him suddenly shook, and before he could process what was happening, he was hundreds of feet in the air, plummeting off the cliff over the Emerald Forest. Then all he could focus on was thinking up a landing- oh, _ landing strategies _ … now he got it.

~

“Honey, I know this is your first event so stay close to your sister, and be sure to be on your best behavior.” Opalina Reid spoke into the rearview mirror as her husband drove along the cold road. She glanced back and sighed at the undone collar of his shirt, and his tie that he had pulled until it was half loosened. With his uncombed black and blue hair, it was easy to notice him in a crowd, and she knew she’d have to clean him up a bit when they arrived. It was going to be the first time the Reid family made a public appearance with their new adopted son, and she wanted him to be judged positively.

“I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble, mommy!” Lymeria Reid exclaimed with a wide smile. She was sitting in the back with the young boy, taking in the sights of Atlas through the dark tinted windows. She was just half-a-year younger than him, but between her reading habits and her vocabulary she seemed like a proper lady already. She was quite responsible for her age, and their parents both trusted her with her new companion.

“I’m sure you will, my little one.” Chuckled the driver as they passed an intersection. Maximus Polaris Reid was a behemoth of a man, easily towering over most adults. It was a surprise to Obsidius that he could even fit in the driver’s seat. Despite his size, he had an incredibly gentle demeanor and his new son could tell he would never hurt a fly, but nevertheless, whenever the man said to do something, the boy did it without question. This was the man who took him in and rescued him from a hard life in the slums of Atlas. “Obsidius, fix your collar.”

Obsidius nodded in the back seat, and let out a small sigh before buttoning his collar back up. He wasn’t used to the prim and proper lifestyle that high-class Atlesians had. All he’d known for years was the poor folk in Atlas. Most of the poor in the kingdom lived in Mantle, yet every city had its share of less-than-well-offs. Atlas was no exception, but they were all kept in the slums. The corners, and caveats of the floating city, where the infrastructure was carved out to make room for the workers needed to keep it running. As he looked out the window on his side of the backseat, he couldn’t help but wonder about who he had to leave behind. What would Matte do now without his courageous partner?

It was evening, but the lights of Atlas beamed through every stretch of darkness, illuminating the untold number of snowflakes as if they were stars. The young boy could still remember the years he spent huddled in an alley with nothing but a rag or two for warmth. He thought back on the Hattres taking him in and the first day he’d ever used a real blanket. He wondered what his old friends were doing at that exact moment.

_ I’ll visit the slums again _ , Obsidius silently promised.  _ I’ll bring loads of food and help them just like how the Reids are helping me. _

“Odi, there aren’t going to be that many kids tonight, so you can stay with me if you want to.” Lymeria offered with a grin, and he shrugged. She had made a habit of calling him by that nickname. According to her, Obsidius wasn’t a ‘cute enough’ name. Obsidius just thought Lymeria was way too long, so he had started calling her Lyme soon after.

“Thanks, Lyme.” Obsidius replied. Lyme had been nothing but nice to him, and it was a welcome change. Usually, Atlesian children from rich families considered street rats like him worse than criminals. He did understand why he had to behave though. First impressions were everything in upper-class Atlas, and he needed to make a real good one, considering his background.

“Jacques and Willow have children, don’t they?” Their mother turned to her husband, who kept his eyes on the road.

“I believe they have three. I saw the eldest when I visited the academy for a presentation.” Maximus said, furrowing his brow in thought, his gloved hands fixed on the vehicle’s steering wheel. “We’ll be sure to ask him about it later.” he added.

Obsidius tuned out the conversation his new adoptive parents were having and went back to looking at the passing scenery. From what he’d overheard, they were heading to a charity event that another family was having, and according to Lyme, those events always had loads of delicious food. He let his mind wander away from the slums and old friends, as he imagined the hundreds of new flavors that he still hasn’t tasted.

“Odi, wake up, we’re here!” Lyme’s voice exclaimed. Groggily, Obsidius opened his eyes. Something was pushing against his cheek. “Come on!” Lyme urged as she further poked him with her index finger. He didn’t even remember falling asleep, but he yawned wide as he stretched in his seat.

“Okay, okay, stop poking me.” Obsidius reached for the door. Their parents had just left the vehicle and were waiting for the children to come out as well. As it opened, a cold breeze entered the vehicle, shocking him awake. “C-cold!” Obsidius yelped. His old street clothes were way warmer compared to the thin button-up shirt that they had him wear tonight. Why couldn’t he wear that instead?

“It’ll get colder the longer you take!” His new sister teased, leaving through the door on her side of the vehicle, and not reacting to the breeze at all.

_ I’ve been through worse _ , Obsidius thought as he opened the door wide enough so he could get out. Immediately, he jogged to the hulking giant that was now his father. Hopefully he could block at least a little bit of the breeze with his huge physique. Lyme was holding on to their mother’s hand with a curt smile. Together, the Reid Family- all four of them- walked towards the gigantic manor ahead of them.

The entrance dwarfed even Maximus Reid, who was already a towering 8 feet tall. It was a set of double doors made of deep brown wood, with opaque glass plates in the middle, bordered by shiny silver rims. The doorknobs were large and made of noticeably darker wood, but in the middle, there were a pair of white snowflake-looking symbols inside pale blue circles. Obsidius leaned to the side to peer through the nearby window, and could faintly see through the frosted glass that there were already quite a few people inside.

The head of the Reid family took a moment to straighten his bright purple tie before knocking on the large wooden door. Three swift knocks with his enormous gloved hands. They waited and a few seconds later, a short stout man came up and opened the door. He was dressed in a neat white shirt and a black vest. He was pretty much bald except for some hair on the side of his head, but Obsidius smiled at his very bushy mustache that wiggled when he talked.

“Ah, the Reid Family. We have been expecting you!” the man exclaimed. He did a small bow towards their parents, and gave each child a nod. “Welcome.” he heartily smiled as he beckoned the family to come inside. Obsidius could have sworn his light brown eyes turned a different color for a second.

“Nice to see you, Klein.” Maximus Reid smiled as they walked past, giving the man a pat on the back. The rest of the Reids followed him as he strode into the grand entrance hall. People dressed in complicated and expensive-looking clothes walked around a sorted menagerie of jewelry and paintings. Several people greeted the Reid parents when they entered, and soon enough, there was a small crowd gathered around the pair. 

Maximus greeted his acquaintances excitedly and gave a few of them big bear hugs. He gestured happily with people who he was even just introduced to. Obsidius watched as the man spoke to dozens of suit-wearing business types, and he listened in on the grown-up talk. The Reids seemed very popular among upper-class Atlesians, and Obsidius hoped it was for the happy way Maximus greeted everyone. Sadly he figured it was more likely because of their position as one of the pioneers of Atlesian technological advancement. After some fat-cat named Jacques, Maximus was the number one manufacturer in the city.

It was hard to see through a crowd as a child, so Obsidius just stood there awkwardly beside his parents. He could feel the several eyes staring at him, but couldn’t exactly do anything about it. With his bright blue hair, he stuck out like a sore thumb among the blonde Reids. He bundled up a bit closer behind Maximus, and the man took notice at the bashful action.

“Ladies and gentleman, I would like to introduce you all to someone very important.” Maximus reached down, and ushered Obsidius out around his legs. The boy blushed as the towering man quieted the group around him, “You’ve all heard it through the grapevine I am certain, but allow me to make the proper greetings. This is Obsidius, Obsidius Reid. Our son!” He bellowed the last words out with pride as he ruffled Obsidius’ hair. The boy chuckled a bit as Maximus smiled down at him, his face beaming at the boy. 

“An orphan?” A voice spoke up, amidst the crowd, and immediately Obsidius’ heart sank. He’d expected that remark. Some people were bound to wonder why an illustrious family such as the Reid’s would take in a nobody like him. Especially when they already had a kid of their own. The boy shrunk a bit more, but before he could tuck away Maximus placed a hand firmly on his shoulder.

“No, an orphan has no parents.” Maximus spoke plainly, with no malice or anger, merely stating facts, “This is my son, and this is my daughter.” He ushered Lyme forward, and she sidled up next to Obsidius, “They’re my beautiful children, and I am so pleased to introduce them to you together like this.”

The crowd’s tension disappeared, and so did the one woman who had made the orphan comment, and Obsidius sighed. Maximus went about naming people off to Obsidius, and the small boy shook hands with them alongside Lyme. He tuned out all the names. Maximus was standing up for him. He’d only been adopted for a few months, but here was Mr. Reid telling every socialite in Atlas that questioning his validity as their son would not be tolerated. Obsidius felt kind of unworthy.

“Lymeria, why don’t you take a walk with Obsidius? He must be dying to try all the interesting food.” Their mother suggested, with a small wink to the blue-haired boy. Did she know that the whole thing was making him nervous? He wasn’t able to read her expression any further. Opalina Reid was very good at juggling conversation, and without missing a beat, continued her conversation with the other adults.

Without hesitation, Lyme grabbed Obsidius' hand and started to tug at it. “Okay, mommy. I’ll keep an eye on him.” With his sister pulling on his arm, Obsidius eventually got to a less crowded part of the room. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Lyme. The girl had escorted them to the edge of a table lined with glorious desserts. Obsidius took a deep breath, and turned to her as the girl scanned the various delicacies.

“Thanks, that was getting weird.”

“You’ll have to get used to it.” Lyme replied, not taking her eyes off the platter before her, “You’re a Reid now!” She grabbed a bright blue cupcake off the table and offered it to Obsidius.

“Oh, right...” Obsidius took the cupcake and bit into the frosting. It was so sugary, it flooded his taste buds, and was way different compared to the bread and pastries he’d eaten on the streets. Lyme took a cupcake for herself, a smaller one, shining bright green with yellow sprinkles. She chomped into it comically and gave Obsidius a big toothy grin, her teeth smothered with green frosting. Obsidius couldn’t help but chuckle. “What do you even do at things like this?”

“Just smile at them!” Lyme suggested, as she nommed into her cupcake more, “They usually won’t give us a second glance since we’re kids. They just like to call us cute and then ignore us.”

True, the rich would often just look at Obsidius once or twice, then forget about him as if he wasn’t worth even looking at. Getting adopted by a prominent family like the Reids  _ had _ put him center stage, and he needed to adapt to the public eye that came with it. And if that meant saying hello and then eating a dozen or so cupcakes, well, he could get used to that.

The two children went about sampling all the different desserts that were laid out on the table. They didn’t take much, just small portions, Obsidius didn’t want to get full yet- just enough to taste the many flavors that were available. What else could two children do in a crowded room full of boring adults discussing politics? Obsidius didn’t pay them much attention, but he did keep hearing the term ‘White Fang’ among the conversations as he and his sister sampled the sweets.

Somewhere down the line, Obsidius decided he couldn’t take how tight his shirt was anymore and unbuttoned the top two buttons from his shirt. Lyme didn’t notice. He wanted to roll his sleeves up too, but that would be a bit too obvious.

Near the end of the long dessert table, the stout man that the children’s father called ‘Klein’ was scooping some sort of ice cream into a fancy glass cup. Lyme’s eyes lit up when she noticed him, and she immediately started moving towards the man. He was quite short, but Lyme still had to be on her tiptoes just to get his attention. Obsidius was told to stay with his sister, so he had to follow suit.

“Ah, little Lymeria and Obsidius Reid!” Klein exclaimed, holding the delicate glass cup with gentle hands. It had the same symbol that was on the doorknobs and everywhere else in the manor- a white snowflake. The cup was filled with a good serving of purple ice cream and topped with some small blue round things. “Would you like some?”

“Hi, Mr. Klein!” Lymeria replied, doing her signature cheerful smile. “I’d love to have a cup of whatever that is! Obsidius, would you like one too?” Obsidius did want some, but he insisted on not getting full. Not when there were so many delicious options to try. Curious about the flavor though, he asked Lyme if he could just get a spoonful off of her cup.

“Oh that’s fine! Just one cup please, Mr. Klein!” she said, holding up one finger towards the butler.

“Coming right up, young lady!” Klein eagerly said, putting down the fancy glass cup that he held earlier. He picked up another cup for Lyme, but this one was definitely not as fancy as the one he had previously filled. It was a simple cylindrical glass. Even the snowflake thing was missing. Klein filled it just as he did the other, and made sure to add an extra spoon for Obsidius. “Here you go, children.” he said, handing Lyme a cupful of purple ice cream.

“Thank you!” Lyme grinned, taking the cup and handing a spoon over to Obsidius

“Thank you, Mr. Klein.” Obsidius mumbled absent-mindedly, his gaze unbreaking from the glass of mystery before him. He took a small scoop and shoved it in his mouth, anticipating to be overwhelmed by sugary goodness.

_ Sour! What kind of ice cream is SOUR?! _

It took nearly all of Obsidius’s willpower to not spit the deceptive ice cream out. He wasn’t going to embarrass himself in front of Mr. Klein. Lyme started giggling at him, her own spoonful already eaten. Did the trick flavor not bother her?

“I’m sorry, Odi. I forgot you’ve never tasted yogurt before!” Lyme said, stifling her laughter. Apparently, Obsidius was making a face that symbolized pure suffering as he tried to swallow the sour-tasting food that was in his mouth. Finally being able to gag down the yogurt, Obsidius quickly turned to his sister, the look of disgust replaced by a look of betrayal.

“What the heck was that? That wasn’t ice cream!” The boy pouted.

“It’s yogurt!” Lyme replied, still blushing with laughter, cup in hand. “It’s made from the bacterial fermentation of milk!” She added, taking another spoonful and eating it. Obsidius only blinked as every word except ‘milk’ and ‘the’ flew over his head.

“The what?” Obsidius asked in confusion, clearly annoyed that his sister didn’t warn him about the taste beforehand. Mr. Klein was still there, thoroughly entertained by the scene, completely forgetting about his own fancy cup of the despicable goo.

“Klein! Where’s my yogurt?” A young girl’s voice interrupted them just as Lyme started to explain how fermentation worked. Both children looked for the source of the sound and found her tugging at the back of Klein’s black vest. The girl appeared to be the same age as both Obsidius and Lyme, perhaps younger, considering she was a bit shorter. She was in a fancy white dress, with a blue ribbon around her collar, and holding the ribbon together was a small round crystal with the same snowflake symbol that he kept seeing. Bundled in her hands was a sizable stuffed rabbit, that Obsidius couldn’t help but make eye contact with.

The moment Obsidius broke its gaze he found himself staring instead at the girl’s pale-blue eyes and platinum-colored hair. Most people he knew at least had a little bit of color in their hair, but this girl’s hair was pure white. She looked up at Klein, clearly annoyed at the butler, her brow furrowed and her cheeks puffed in an attempt to look angry. Next to him, Lymeria’s eyes widened in recognition.

“Right here, Young Madam Schnee.” Klein said, taking hold of the fancy cup he forgot about a few seconds ago. “Yogurt needs to air out for a bit to have the best flavor!” The Schnee girl took the fancy cup from the butler with a doubtful expression. Holding the cup close to her face, she carefully looked over the yogurt. Was she expecting to find something out-of-the-ordinary? 

“I suppose you’re right, Klein.” She concluded after rationalizing Klein’s reasoning to herself. The small girl immediately turned and started to walk in the opposite direction, back to wherever she came from.

“Now hold on there, young miss. Aren’t you going to say hello to little Lymeria and her new brother?” Klein suggested to the anti-social lass. This ‘Schnee’ groaned and turned back around, clearly eager to get away from the conversation so she could enjoy her yogurt.

“Hello.” She faced Lyme, clutching her stuffed toy in annoyance.

“Hi, Weiss!” Lyme smiled, still holding onto her own cup of yogurt. Obsidius figured his sister knew her, or went to school with her or something. “The yogurt tastes great!”

The young girl nodded and then looked at Obsidius. “And you are?”

“That is little Lymeria’s adopted brother; Obsidius Reid.” Klein explained to the girl before Obsidius could answer. “Obsidius, this is Ms. Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the people that are hosting this gathering tonight.”

“Hi, Ms. Weiss Schnee!” Obsidius waved, approaching the girl and her stuffed animal. “I like your bunny!” he added, petting the plush on the head. The action seemed to surprise the girl, causing her to gently tug the bunny away from the boy, and widen her eyes in shock. Obsidius lowered his hand, worried of offending her. She quickly regained her composure though, switching back to her bored look and giving a small nod to the siblings.

“If that’s all, I’ll be going now.” Weiss said, balancing her yogurt and rabbit as she attempted to take a bite. “Let’s go, Klein.” She mumbled through a mouthful.

“Ah.” Klein nodded slightly, and then whispered, “Terribly sorry about her behavior, she’s not used to having other children around. She’s quite lonely if I do say so myself.”

“Well, we’re right here! Can’t she hang out with us, right now?” Obsidius replied, and leaned around Klein to watch Weiss walk away, intrigued by the girl. Lyme nodded in agreement next to him. Being two of the only three kids at the party was quite boring. As far as Obsidius could tell, everyone else here was an adult. Apparently, this girl had other plans more critical than sharing her space with the Reids.

“I’ll see about arranging a day when you two can keep her company. She’s dreadfully busy with her studies.” Klein answered and leaned in closer to the two kids. “She is not one to leave home however, so we’d best have you return here.”

“That sounds great!” Lyme smiled, and Obsidius nodded. For once in the evening he was in the same excited mood as his sister.

“Wonderful, I’m sure she’d appreciate the company, no matter how cold she might seem. I’m sure we can find plenty of fun things to do about the grounds! I’ll send word to your parents if-”

“ _ Klein! _ ”Weiss whined from a few feet away. Several people were startled by the sudden voice and stared at the heiress, who merely ignored them, her eyes locked on her butler. Klein jumped and immediately turned to face the girl, waving goodbye to the Reid children as he walked away.

“Well, look at you making friends.” Lyme grinned at Obsidius, “Weiss isn’t super… friendly… or nice. She can be fun when she relaxes though! And did you see her bunny? It was so cute! I want a bunny now… Maybe dad and mom will get us a rabbit!”

“Yeah, maybe.” Obsidius lowered his head a bit. ‘Friends’. He was making friends with the richest kids in Atlas. He used to talk with Matte for hours about how much they hated the rich kids. They would promise to never become one of them, and to always stick to the streets with each other. That was the life he used to have. Cold, challenging, the Hattres were nice enough to treat him to food and a couch, but they hardly had the money to feed themselves before Obsidius showed up. He wondered how they were, dragging his feet as Lyme tugged him to find their father. 

“Obsidius, are you pouting because you didn’t get to play with Weiss?” Lyme finally asked as she stopped to look at him. He was thinking of Weiss, and of Lyme. This was his life now. Here, as one of the rich kids. Before his thought could affect his mood too much, he quickly shook it away, and flashed a grin back at his adoptive sister. He may be a rich kid, but he definitely didn’t have to be a priss.

“Of course I’m not pouting! Who the hell do you think I am?” He placed a finger to his chest, and Lyme giggled as a few adults guffawed at his language. Then he grabbed his sister's hand, and trounced through the crowd.

~

The wind screamed around him, adrenaline roared through his veins like a freight train, this was it, this is what he’d been waiting for. The young man reached to his side and grabbed onto a gleaming silver and black club of sharp angles. He grinned as he jabbed its top in the shield on his back. He hoisted it from its magnetic holster between his shoulders and the mechanisms within it revved to life. Sparks formed inside the glass cylinders that lined his shield, as inner machinery whirred and the two protective edges of metal on the sides of the weapon swung down. The metal clashed together, forming a large blade, and with his greatsword- Tyrant Regalia in hand- he plummeted towards the nearest tree

It stood several stories tall and was fast approaching, but there was no need for fear. The blades on the boy’s weapon met the wood with an echous crack and the raw gravity of the fall caused it to drag down the great trunk. Splinters and chips of wood scattered from the impact, and his black and blue hair blew up as his descent slowed. His feet confidently stomped onto the ground.

“Emerald Forest, prepare to have your leafy ass handed to you! Throw everything you’ve got at me and it still won't be enough,” He planted his greatsword blade first into the ground, and a grin crossed his face, as he gazed across the forest horizon, “I’m the greatest huntsman to ever live, I’m Obsidius Reid! Now get outta my way!”


	4. The Softest Landing

“I said-” Obsidius growled, “get out of my way!” He kicked a bundle of thorns at his feet as his jacket got caught for the fifth time in a low hanging tree branch. He had landed minutes ago, but at his rate he must have only gone twenty feet. “Is there anything to fight in this _stupid_ forest other than _plants?_ ”

As if answered by the gods themselves, the fuming huntsman’s foot caught on a rock, tore through foliage and out over a 10 foot drop. He shrieked a curse and crossed his arms over his chest as he collapsed to the ground and rolled down the hill on the other side. With every few feet he crashed into a rock, cursed again, and then bounced further along. Eventually he came to a stop, not gently, but rather by crashing into a tree wider than a car.

“I hate this stupid forest.” Obsidius huffed, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. He paused for a moment and gazed up at the sky through the leaves criss-crossing his vision. He wondered about the other students, and considered how they were faring. He’d lost sight of them all when he had landed. Knowing his sister she’d have floated down and found herself in some sunny clearing. Lyme was nowhere to be seen, however. She was probably miles away by now, hell, maybe she was done already.

Obsidius bounced up to his feet and peered around the massive tree. He thought back to what he’d seen while he was falling from the starting point. A good distance past where he was there was a river with a sparse woodland area, and an old stone structure in the middle. He wasn’t sure if that was where they needed to go, but it looked like the only man-made structure in the area. The woodland ended at a great ravine surrounded by fog, meaning that he and the rest of the initiates were in the equivalent of an arena, a massive, Grimm-infested arena.

The forest floor was a maze of bushes and trees that made it extremely hard to navigate. The only point of reference he had for a direction was deeper into the foliage. There was a river, a smaller bunch of trees, and the stone structure further ahead. He just had to make sure he didn’t lose his bearings, and he’d make it just fine.

Making sure his aura stayed up until he made it through the thorns and branches would be key. All the twigs and branches that struck his face as he went could leave nasty gashes on his face, and any Grimm he encountered would certainly do worse. He had to make sure he got through this, after all there was a certain snow-haired heiress he had to keep up appearances for. Obsidius grew distracted for a moment as he wondered how she was doing back in Atlas. Since he was a year older, he had gone to Beacon ahead of her, but he knew she’d follow. He had to focus if he wanted to live to see it.

Especially because in his distraction, something had snuck up on him. A rustling in the bushes gave it away just in time. Obsidius instinctively turned, shield at the ready, stun rod active as a large claw swiped at him from out of the brush. The clang of talon on metal rang out as he was forced backwards from the impact, his boots digging into the moist dirt beneath him. A trio of Beowolves had snuck up on him from the side while he was distracted, and the largest had just lunged at him with every intent to kill.

He watched as black fur bristled against the white skulls of the monsters that encircled him. Their red eyes beamed onto him without any waver. The Regalia had caught most of the first impact, but Beowolves were known to gang up on individual hunters who weren’t careful. They would try to distract him from the front while another would attack from the side, according to what Lyme told him back when they used to train in Atlas. She was never an aggressive fighter, but she was a fount of knowledge. So Obsidius gave a silent thanks to his sister as he placed his back against the large tree, and raised his shield to his opponents.

 _That should at least cover my ass_ , he thought, smiling as he beat the front of his shield with his stun rod, making a clanging sound that echoed through the woods. “Alright, mutts, come on, show me what you’ve got!” The creatures of Grimm eyed him warily, looking for an opening. He glanced from one to the next, each awaiting the moment he was distracted. Any sign that his guard had dropped and they would be on him in an instant. So he sank into his defensive position and waited.

“Well?” The boy taunted again, “We doin’ this or what?” He lowered the shield ever so slightly as he shrugged his shoulders, and just like that all three rushed him, with the largest leading the trio. “There we go!” Obsidius shouted, raising his shield and holding his stun rod tight.

The first Beowolf leapt at him, a mass of bone and muscle as Obsidius’ shield caught the brunt of the attack and pushed back. His stun rod slammed straight into the second’s jaw, and with a bright flash, sent it flying and crashing into a nearby tree. The massive surge of electricity would be enough to incapacitate a man twice his size at maximum charge, so he was unsurprised when the Grimm melted away across from him. 

“That’s one!” The third came up just as fast as the first two, and swiped at Obsidius’s right arm, only to hit his metal pauldrons. Its claws bounced off the hard metal as it let loose a growl. 

Obsidius grinned all the way through the assault, and took the opportunity to immediately shoulder-charge the confused creature, knocking it down. He swiftly followed up with a quick shield-strike to the head, and then swung his stun rod down onto the dazed beast's neck. Another bright flash of electricity was enough to knock the downed creature out.

“That’s two!” Obsidius grunted as he jumped back, trying to distance himself from the remaining Beowolf. It was clearly the largest of the bunch, easily twice as big, maybe more. That wasn’t going to be a problem. Obsidius was particularly good at handling large opponents. It was simple, the harder they hit, the harder that Obsidius would hit back. So he only smiled wider as the hulking wolf rushed into him.

It howled mid-lunge, and Obsidius raised his shield to block, almost losing his footing as the creature clung to his shield. He quickly turned to face the large tree with the creature still trying to wrestle his shield off. With a shout, Obsidius used the creature’s strength and slammed it into the bark.

The beast yelped as it struggled to claw at Obsidius while it was helplessly pinned to the tree. He swung towards the head, but the wolf had learned from seeing the rod zap away its partners, and kicked out wildly. He was forced backwards, and the Grimm took the opportunity to fumble a few feet away, limping as it went. All it took, all he needed was that instant of hesitation.

The stun rod slammed down into a port atop his shield, and was met by a radiating, electrical hum, a circuit now completed inside the wall of metal. The wolf growled as it steadied itself again, and dove towards him for a third time. But instead of being met by the tempered wall that was Obsidius’ shield, it went wide eyed as he raised his weapon’s secondary form.

The Tyrant Regalia, a greatsword nearly as long as Obsidius was tall, swung up from his hip with the force of a truck, and before the Grimm could get within clawing distance it met the sharp edge of the blade. Obsidius stumbled as he had put his full force into the swing, but it worked quite effectively, as it tended to. The sword cleaved the wolf into two clean pieces… as well as the tree behind it, and a few bushes nestled around the backswing.

“Whoa! And that’s three! Not so tough now, are you?” Obsidius laughed as he unceremoniously dragged the Regalia into a resting position. The weight was easy enough to handle when the bulk of it was a shield strapped to his forearm, but swinging around a greatsword was a completely different beast. “Thought you had me with a three on one, but I’ll take those odds any day. After all, I’m the great Obsidi-” A booming crack interrupted him as the tree he’d slashed into splintered along the base, and toppled downward. Luckily, the boisterous young man just watched wide eyed as it fell away from him and tore apart the canopy of the forest on it’s way down. It finished its fall, and did the best it could to bounce as it met the ground, but the pure weight only made it comically fluff post-impact.

He blinked a few times as the dust and wood chips settled to the ground, and he may or may not have looked around to make sure no one had witnessed him destroying what must have been a _very_ old tree. Once he was sure the coast was clear of Grimm, onlookers, or falling greenery, Obsidius let out a sigh and sheathed his sword to his back. He stepped forward, and with a quick heft, pulled himself onto the trunk of the fallen tree.

“No more bushes, atleast.” He mumbled to himself, walking along the tree trunk, which he noted had fallen in the direction he needed to be headed, as he listened to the droning sounds of the river he knew he’d be fast approaching on his makeshift walkway, “Of course it all went perfectly. It was never gonna be anything but, after all. Who the hell does this forest think I am? No twigs or trees are gonna stop the great Obsidius Re-”

The river was closer than he had imagined, and the tree was shorter than he had thought. He realized both of these things the moment he stepped off the edge of the tree and fell immediately into rushing water. He struggled for a moment, not at all helped by the massive weight of the Regalia on his back. He flailed, attempting to hold the air in his lungs as he rushed upward. He finally broke the surface, about fifteen feet downriver from where he had fallen in, and still travelling.

“I hate this stupid forest!” Obsidius repeated his sentiment as he kicked and wriggled his way back towards the shore. He floundered as he clawed at the river rocks for a solid grip, until eventually his hand found a perfect loop for him to grip, and he drew himself to a dead stop. He coughed and sputtered as he pulled himself up onto the cold rock and instantly regretted the many layers of his Atlas bought clothing. He took the time to adjust a bit on the rock, preparing to pull himself out, only to blink in confusion as the grey rock slowly lifted itself from the water.

“So, you’re not really good at this outdoorsy thing are you?” A small voice spoke up, and Obsidius looked down the rock he held. Only it wasn’t a looped rock. It was a solid horn on a metal ram’s skull that just happened to adorn a cannon that easily dwarfed even his own massive greatsword. His eyes followed the contours of the metal behemoth until they found the person hauling it- and him- out of the water. A pair of beady black eyes met his own grey and he raised an eyebrow.

“Tiny sheep?” He whispered as he observed the face adorned with small curls of blonde hair in the shape of horns.

“Did you hit your head during your swim? Two inches lower, idiot.” The voice spoke again, and Obsidius’ eyes moved down from the black beads until they met two wheat gold irises. He’d been staring at a beanie with a derpy face, and now he was staring at a smirk. The girl was no more than four foot and some change, but she held Obsidius and her giant weapon aloft in one hand, as she rested the other snarkily on her hip. The two stared one another down for a few moments as Obsidius’ hair dripped quietly into his face, before he finally nodded once.

“You’re… _very strong_ for someone so fun-sized.”

~

The wind howled by Matte’s ears as he cut through the air. His line of sight stretched across the entire forest as he reached the apex of his launch. For a moment, he was in awe of the raw majesty of the scenery. The sensation was fleeting however, as his freedom flight upward became a terminal velocity descent. The shock of the situation seemed to be playing catch up to Matte’s rocketing speed as it transitioned to panic. Somehow, on pure reflex, he had managed to grab his hat, but he didn’t imagine that was going to help him much going forward… or rather downward.

“This is our first day?!” Adrenaline roared through the hatter’s veins. How was he supposed to land? He desperately looked around, and caught glimpses of other students using their various semblances and weapons to safely reach the ground.  
He had no semblance, not yet at least, which immediately lowered his confidence in whether or not he would survive the next half a minute. He could aim for the trees and use the March Hare’s blade, but he was going much too fast. He’d either crash straight through the wood or warp his sword to an unusable state, and he had spent way too long building the thing to risk that. He could just brace for impact, but his aura would shatter the second he made contact. Matte was running out of options, and worse than that, running out of time.

The only chance he really had were the cards harbored in his coat. He fumbled around with his jacket, desperately grabbing at whichever pocket he could reach. The jacket fluttered off his shoulders into the wind, and he snatched it by the collar, twisting in the air as he slammed his hand into the material again. His fingers felt one of the metal bundles, and he pulled it free, sliding the cards apart to see his options. The cards were also a product of his own design, laced inside every sheet of metal was a thin, concentrated layer of powdered dust. Usually he would use them like grenades or place them down as traps, but now he had to get creative.

The cards were thin enough to snap in two with a bit of force, and the concoction within would activate upon being revealed to the open air. His deck had a variety of dust types, and he had to figure out which one would save him. 

Fire wouldn’t help unless he wanted to just go out burning rather than die due to the impact. Water would have been great if he had enough, but he only had about 8 cards, worth nothing more than a small puddle. Earth was the _opposite_ of what he wanted. Air… maybe. But gravity! Matte fumbled to pull his gravity cards from his decks, and immediately snapped one in half. It was only a second, a burst of gravity that pulled him in closer and slowed him down before it fizzled out of existence. He had 3 more of them. He was seriously reconsidering how many cards he kept packed into his jacket. 

He cursed to himself, trying his best to calculate the exact right moment to activate the next card. His speed began to increase once more. _Snap_. Two left, three hundred feet until landing. _Snap_. One card, two hundred feet. Matte snapped his last card, still at least a hundred feet in the air. His descent was slowed, but not enough for a clean landing.

“Mayday! Mayday! We’re going-” Matte crashed into the canopy, tearing through branches and vines before eventually tumbling to the floor with a hefty thump, “... down.”

Matte’s vision warbled for at least a few seconds, before it progressively cleared and his orientation became clear. He'd rolled in one direction or another after the impact and his back was firmly placed against a tree with his neck against the ground, giving him an upside down view of the forest floor. Slowly, the young man took in the scenery before him, righting the orientation mentally. A group of growls offended his ears, and his eyes focused on the slowly advancing pair of Ursi closing in.

“Well… This is awkward.” Matte joked, “Was I interrupting a frat meeting, fellas?” He held his hands out as he began to roll to his knees. “We can just talk this out, right?” The boy chuckled as one of the Grimm angrily swiped at him. The hatter reacted quickly, snatching the March Hare from its mount on the back of his belt. He swung the blade in front of him, a loud clang ringing out as the metal collided with the claws.

“Okay! Not a man of many words! I can respect that.” Matte pulled his cards from his pocket and threw one into the closest Ursa’s face. Ice encapsulated the monster’s head and Matte jumped directly on its back. The beast blindly began to flail, Matte’s hands gripped onto the spikes on its back and held tightly. The Ursa’s sightless rage began to work to his advantage, he watched as it wildly attacked, clawing the other bear savagely. The betrayed Ursa roared and bit down onto Matte’s mount.

“Whoa there, be nice to your buddy, huh?” He cheered, waving one hand in the air. In the excitement, Matte got distracted and his foot suddenly slipped. His grip released, and his eyes went wide as he collapsed to the floor. The March Hare clanged as it hit the ground and flew several feet away while the Ursa finally shook the ice free. Angered by the childish joyride, it stomped its paw down on Matte’s chest. All the air in the hatter’s lungs rushed out in an instant, and his hands shot up to instinctively grip the paw on top of him. Through grit teeth, he continued to tease.

“Ya know… You should really trim your nails.” He coughed out. The monster only increased the pressure on Matte’s chest. Its claws dug into his skin, and his aura wasn’t strong enough to hold it back. He winced, as he felt the sharp tips punch through his waistcoat and pierce the skin beneath. His breathing became strained as his lungs struggled to find room to expand. His arms, grabbing wildly at the foot crushing him, began to feel heavy. His consciousness began to fade. 

That’s when it really hit him. He was going to die. All this way, continents from home, he was going to die. Family he’d never apologize to, friends he’d never see again. Something deep within him began to writhe its way to the surface. He could practically feel his life flashing before him, pictures of a floating city, a pirate ship cascaded in moonlight, and that blue haired idiot. The feeling in his chest bubbled up, it cascaded through his veins, coursed through his muscles and engulfed his organs. His head began to burn and his heartbeat quickened. He felt like he was about to scream, and in that moment, everything went black.

  
~

Obsidius twisted his jacket tightly to wring the water out of it, as his savior watched cross legged on a rock. He slung the damp material over his shoulders as he knelt down to address his weapon. Covered in river reeds and muck, he made an almost offended scoff as he started cleaning it up. He procured a small knife from his jacket pocket and started cutting his way through the material the river had tangled into the mechanisms. The short girl looked at him as he worked, her hazel eyes following his hands as he cut and pulled. Obsidius took it upon himself to start a conversation, “What’s your name?”

“Blanche, Nera Blanche. You?” The girl responded, picking a leaf free from one of her blonde hair buns. She gave a sheepish yawn as she adjusted her clothes. She was wearing relatively simple clothes that were adorned with white fluffy wool at the trims. Which would have made her seem almost cute and cuddly, if it weren’t for her stern gaze and the bullet motif that laced every inch not covered in cotton.

“Obsidius Reid. Nice to meet you!” He smiled, pausing his cutting to offer a handshake. The girl looked at his hand, looked up at his grinning face, then took the offer and shook. The sound of the river was the only noise as their first interaction paused again. He noted that she had a firm grip. “Guess that means you’re my partner! The sheep beanie threw me off at first, I was worried you were a faunus for a second” he laughed. Nera’s eyebrows furrowed and her grip tightened with surprising strength.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I-I mean I’m just glad to see a human.” Obsidius stammered, shocked by the tiny girl’s display of strength. He escaped her grasp and gave his hand a healthy shake, resetting the compressed bones and went back to work on the remaining vines.

“Sure.” Nera crossed her arms and faced the other way, looking at the river. He reeled a bit at her sudden response, but he shook it off as he finished cleaning the greatsword. He flicked a button on the handle and the blades parted to slide up into the mechanism, returning the stun rod to his hand and restoring his shield.

Obsidius slung them both into their metal holsters, and stood back up. Hoping to get a few brownie points, he grabbed Nera’s weapon from where it leaned nearby. He went in with full confidence, but struggled to even lift the weapon off the ground. It was heavy as hell. “Here’s your… weapon.” He held out the metal cylinder with both hands.

“Thanks.” Nera said, taking the weapon from Obsidius with a single tiny hand. She effortlessly shook it to get rid of the muck and water that was clinging to it. Obsidius just stared, mouth agape at the girl and her 10-foot long monster of a weapon. “What?”

“U-uh, just-... any idea how we can cross the river? It doesn’t look like swimming or jumping is an option.” Obsidius asked, as he leaned on the rock that Nera sat on. He angled his head back and up to maintain eye contact, but he took the time to glance at her metal monstrosity. Now that the weapon wasn’t covered in muck, or being used as a fishing pole to save him, Obsidius could look at it better and figure out what it actually was. 

It was slate-gray, covered in alternating metal plates. On opposite sides of the cylinder were small circular protrusions. One was extended to form a handle that Nera used to hold on to the weapon. Near the front of it were what appeared to be bladed fins, with two goat skull facades made of the same metal. All of it culminated between the two skulls with a massive barrel opening that reminded him of a full-bore cannon. Obsidius assumed it was some sort of rocket launcher and couldn’t help but smile. Weapon design was a thing he was very enthusiastic about, and this girl had one hell of a weapon.

“Ya’ know what? I think I have a way across. Step forward a little bit.” Nera slid off the rock and stepped forward to a flatter part of the riverside. She looked across the water, her thumb under her chin and her other hand leaning on her weapon. Obsidius gave her a puzzled look and shrugged, stepping forward until he was at the very edge of the rocky shoreline. “Your aura works, right?”

“Of course it does!” Obsidius laughed, puffing his chest out, his back turned to the small girl, “Who the hell do you think I a-”

Obsidius’s breath left his lungs as a massive impact from behind sent him flying towards the opposite shore. For a few short seconds, he flailed as he rocketed through the space above the river, trying to right himself as he spun through the air. His airtime was interrupted by the tangle of bushes that he crashed into on the other side of the river. A moment passed, and he let out a groan.

“What the hell was that for?” Obsidius yelled, standing back up and leaning on a nearby tree for stability, as he flailed to get sticks and leaves out of his clothing.

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Nera yelled back, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting through them to amplify her small voice. He hated to admit it, but it was true, she did manage to get him across.

“Okay, how will _you_ get across then?” Obsidius asked, rubbing the back of his head.

Nera slowly lowered her weapon to the ground, its large ram heads facing Obsidius. She then walked around to the side and lightly tapped it. Much to Obsidius’ surprise, her cannon slowly rose off the ground, levitating. He watched in awe as she adjusted a few things on it’s side, and then grabbed it and pushed it forward towards the water. As it went, she threw her leg up gracefully and plopped her small frame upon it as it ferried her across the river, her posture not unlike that of a small, smug heiress.

“Like that.” Nera snarked when she arrived, and stretched as the weapon sank slowly to the ground.

“You could’ve let me ride on it too.” Obsidius grumbled as his new partner dismounted her weapon.

“Maybe, I could’ve.” Nera replied, lifting the behemoth again, “But I didn’t want to.”

“You’re a jerk.” Nera shrugged dismissively, walking past Obsidius toward the stone structure. The young man, still fuming, followed suit.

The duo were wary as they approached the old stone ruins that served as their mission’s destination. The sparse woodland past the river seemed to be devoid of Grimm, but there was an air of unease. Nearby trees had claw marks permanently gashed on the wood. What used to be large boulders now lay cleaved in half all around the forest.

The two kept on their toes as they snuck through the ancient stone archways. They took in their surroundings, assessing any points of risk. Moss and cracks along the stone structure stood as a testament to the ruins’ age. Faded murals of warriors fighting what looked like lions adorned the few remaining walls of the structure. Everything was decrepit, almost falling apart at the seams, save for the middle. Glinting a magnificent silver, Beacon Academy’s emblem lay flat on the floor, surrounded by waist-high pedestals of varying shades of gray. Sat atop the pedestals were small stone tablets, engraved with the faces of playing cards. A few of them were already gone.

“What kind of crap is this? Playing cards? I was expecting like a dragon statue or something- well, something _cool_!” Obsidius whined. 

“Are we supposed to choose one?” Nera wondered, getting on her tiptoes as she tried to get a look at one of the tablets: the three of hearts. 

“I think so. You wanna pick that or...?” Obsidius trailed off as he looked over a few more of the cards, not particularly piquing his interest in any way that stood out. 

“Nah, hearts aren’t really my style.” Nera frowned, turning away from the rejected card and walking back to Obsidius, her weapon still in-hand. Obsidius laughed as he put his weapon away, grabbing a nearby tablet with the king of diamonds.

“We’ll take this one then!” Obsidius announced, raising his card into the air. “The great king of diamonds! Royal, strong, _and_ …” Obsidius welled up his energy for his last reason, “-diamonds are awesome.” Nera simply shrugged in response. 

Obsidius stored the relic safely in his jacket pocket, his eyes fanned over the other options. The queen and king of hearts were already missing, as well as the queen of diamonds. “Any idea what we’re supposed to do now?”

“I assume we just have to head back.” Nera replied, twirling a lock of her hair, as she kicked a stone across the empty ruin, “This _is_ all the headmaster told us to do.”

“Got it. I declare that we should head back to the cliffs!” Obsidius replied, looking back and pointing a finger north towards the cliffs they first came from. It was gonna be a long walk back, probably a few hours worth of walking considering they wouldn’t be able to cover the distance at terminal velocity. 

Without a response, Nera simply placed her weapon on the ground in the horizontal position once more. She then proceeded to sit on top of it. Obsidius stood next to her, looking down at the girl who was messing with a panel on top of her weapon.

“What are you doing?” Obsidius asked, crossing his arms at the girl.

“Resting my legs.” Nera responded, her eyes locked to the panel as she pressed a button. Her weapon lurched upwards and started levitating a foot off the ground once more. She sighed as she laid forward, draping herself across the metal.

“Ah!” Obsidius exclaimed in awe as his fascination with the weapon finally hit the tipping point, “How does it work? Magnets? No, that can’t be it. Maybe fans? That’s so awesome!” He fired off questions as he knelt down to inspect the underside of the weapon. Much to his surprise he found only smooth metal, but that only made him more excited.

“I’ll explain it if you pull it behind you, deal?” The girl smirked as she rested her eyes and legs. Obsidius crossed his arms and chuckled.

“I see now, you just want to sit there all lazy, and make me carry you around!” The boy pointed a finger declaratively into the small girl’s face, but she didn’t flinch at all probably because her eyes were closed. She only took a deep breath and nodded.

“That is exactly what I was hoping for, yes.” Obsidius only rolled his eyes as he reached a hand out to tug the slab of metal along.

“Fine, but you have to let me ride it across the river with you this time!”

“We’ll see.”

~

Fire. Ash. The screams of innocent people assaulted the faunus’s ears. Eyes aflame with the color of Grimm stared back at her. A head oozing shadowy liquid as it’s mouth opened, fluidy separations forming as its jaw seemed to unhinge and reveal a hellish red glow from within it. Within that figure, she could see everything she feared, she could feel every pain she’d ever escaped, and every future she hoped to avoid. It was crushing. Before she had time to react, arms wrapped around the back of her neck and began to squeeze.

“You could have done more.” She couldn’t hold back anymore. She screamed, louder and higher than she ever had before. She was petrified, she could feel the air escaping her lungs. This was it. She was going to die. She felt heavier and heavier, and it overtook her as she collapsed to the floor. Then, as she floundered for breath, a sound, an explosion that tore apart everything that surrounded her and in that moment... everything went white.

~

Matte’s ear rang loudly. He held his head as he regained his bearings. Just a moment ago, he was being crushed under the paw of an Ursa. The weight was fresh on his mind, but nowhere on his chest. He sucked in air, but quickly found that he had no problems breathing, and he sat up in shock. Then he was even further confused, when he saw that the forest around him looked as though it had been through a wood chipper and put back together. Trees cracked and splintered, limbs teetering and swinging if not already fallen, and shreds all across the ground around them. Them? He looked a few yards ahead of him, and processed that a girl was lying in the chips and dust. Her body limp amidst the carnage.

“You-” He huffed out, still regaining control of his breath. He crawled over to the faunus and shook her shoulder. “Hey! Hey, come on, be okay! Don’t be dead! Hey, wake u-” A foot flew up in response to his touch, and clocked him in the side of the head, sending him flying as his hat fell straight to the ground. She shot to her feet in panic.

“Stay back, Rocky! L-leave me alone!” The tanuki girl cried, tears pouring down her face, her ginger hair splaying outward as she turned in a panic, looking everywhere for some hidden assailant.

“First off, Ow!” Matte yelled as he clambered back to a standing position. He walked over and picked his hat up, dusting it off, “Secondly, I don’t know, nor do I care who Rocky is. But surely they don’t give you a good enough reason to try and lay me out!”

“You… You!” She pointed in Matte’s face, her tail fluffing out in fear as she did so.

“Me is Matte, and yeah, yeah, I know. ‘The professor threw him into the auditorium.’ Blah blah blah. Haha, real funny. Listen-”

“No! I don’t care about your name! You’re that thing! That thing with the melting face and the Grimm eyes! You- what did you do to me?!” She fumbled her words as she further assaulted Matte with questions, and stumbled backwards in the dirt and grass.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything. I just… woke up like this.” The hatter theorized as he completed cleaning his hat, turning to the demolished trees as he put it on.

“This was you! You did this!” The faunus yelled from behind him, gesturing to the newly created clearing.

“Sure I did, I’ll take credit, why not? Either way, I have a relic to find, so stay out of my way. I’ve got to get myself a slot in this school.” Matte started his march through the remains, his gaze was pulled, however, when he saw one of his cards. 

The metal card was lodged into the center of the tree. It was smattered with blood, his blood. How did it end up here? The young man crouched to analyze it, the angle at which it was wedged perfectly matched the path of the cuts in the trees between where he came from and here. He looked at the spot he had been laying, then to the card. He leaned in close to double check, and sure enough it seemed to make a straight line from the point he had been, to the point where it was lodged halfway into a demolished tree. He reached out to it. The card began to wiggle and before Matte had a chance to touch it, it dislodged itself from the tree as if it had come alive. He stumbled back, and went wide-eyed as it hovered in front of his hand, bobbing slightly.

“Whoa! What the hell?!” Matte yelled in shock. His reluctant companion approached him, staring at the floating card while keeping a healthy distance from the hatter.

“That’s what I saw fly everywhere! You did that!”

“I… I did? Wait, is this my semblance?!” Matte found himself giddy as he made the card dance around him sloppily. It twirled through the air almost completely without control.

“What do you mean? Shouldn’t you know your own semblance?”

“Some of us are late bloomers, okay, miss raccoon!” Matte twirled his card and made it snap between his finger like it had been on a rubber band, as he griped at the girl

“My name is Citrine, and I’m a tanuki. So how does a floating card make all… that.” Citrine shuddered as she recalled the horrific images that had bombarded her as she had run past through the forest. One second she’d been avoiding what sounded like a pair of Ursa and the next she was stuck in a nightmare. Then she’d woken up in the aftermath of… whatever Matte had done.

“I still have no clue what you’re talking about. I didn’t create a damn thing. But look at this! I can move my cards! This is awesome! Although it’s a little dirty, c’mere.” The card hovered over to Matte and he wiped the blood from it. The card immediately shuddered and fell to the floor. “Hey, what happened?” Matte lifted the card up and turned it, analyzing it.

“I dunno, what’d you clean off it?”

“My blood. But why would that-?” Matte wiped some of the blood from his shirt, rubbing it between his fingers and looking at it. He swiped his finger across the card, smearing blood back on it. In response, the card began to hover again. Matte practically burst from excitement, “I’m an idiot! I’ve been trying to get these stupid things to float for years, I’ve put every bit of experimental tech I could steal and aura I could muster into them, but I never thought of literally putting myself into them! My blood on the card is what finally let me make them float!” Matte excitedly explained.

“That seems like a kinda far fetched theory.” Citrine approached the card, trying to find another explanation.

“You literally just watched me wipe my blood off and make it stop.” Matte shrugged, “Doesn’t matter to me though. I’ve got awesome, floating, grenade razors,” The hatter chuckled as he turned back to Citrine, “and you’ve got a serious case of crazy. Now, I’m gonna go find a relic, and you can sit here and… mumble about melting faces, I guess.”

“Hey,” The tanuki girl meekly responded, tearing up as Matte turned to walk away, “wait, aren’t we partners now?”

“Ha!” Matte only responded with the outburst, as he marched along and nabbed every card he could find amidst the chaos. Citrine huffed, wiped away some of her tears and set off after him.

“Wait up,” Matte stepped into the woods, and Citrine moved quicker. She stepped out of the clearing after the hatter, exasperated more and more with every step. Neither turned around to see the growling beast that gazed out at them from the other end of the clearing, or the dozen burning eyes that flanked it. 


	5. Reunite & Fight

“ _Dee_ , why can’t you just use your wings and fly us over? Now we have to walk up this stinky, muddy river just to try and swim across!” A loud fox faunus whined as she trudged through the river’s bank.

“I’m sorry, my wings aren’t big enough to let me do more than glide, much less fly two people across a river.” The before mentioned Dee responded by flexing the appendages in question. The bat faunus’ wings were hardly big enough to reach past her shoulders and lent much more to aesthetic than utility.

“Still, if I knew we’d be going through so much mud, I wouldn’t have worn white…” The fox pouted, lifting her arm and examining her now brown clothing.

“Watch where you’re dragging me! It’s like you’re aiming for them at this point!” Another voice rang out.

“A branch or two to the jaw makes you stronger, Nera, trust me!” Obsidius responded. The pair of faunus stopped in their tracks as the bickering duo wandered to the other side of the river bank. They watched in silent amusement as the scene unfolded.

“There, I got us all the way back to the river, now lemme on!” Obsidius hopped up, throwing his body over the massive pillar of steel. The front of the weapon rebounded off the ground as the weight assaulted it.

“Hey, you’re gonna scratch her! Get off!” Nera flicked her hand up, and the weapon reared back to fling the boy to the ground. The fox watched the object float up, and practically beamed. She shot past Dee, and clambered her way closer to the river’s shore.

“Hey!” The girl waved her arms, trying to get their attention, as she climbed atop a rock formation, “We’re stuck over here, can you help us across?”

Obsidius and Nera looked over to the pair of girls on the other shore, and the boy stood up to full height. The fox was clearly shouting at them, her arms waving and pointing over her head, and the pair sat next to one another.

“Should we help them?” Nera raised an eyebrow and Obsidius laughed as he put his arms on his hips.

“I’m Obsidius Reid, the manliest man!” He jutted a thumb up to point at his own face, “And a real man wouldn’t leave two girls stranded in the woods. Even if they’re faunus!”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Nera raised an eyebrow, and Obsidius shrugged.

“I mean, us normal people usually have to stick together when faunus come around, but these girls seem okay. To be honest with you, I’ve only ever even talked to one faunus, my mom didn’t like having them around.”

“Well, tip number one, don’t call humans ‘normal’ when you talk to faunus.” Nera slid off the cannon and gave a thumbs up to the girl across the river, who bounced excitedly.

“Why? Aren’t we?” Obsidius shrugged, and Nera rolled her eyes.

“Can you not be racist for two seconds while we figure out how to get these two across?” The girl looked up and down the various rocks and crags of the river, and Obsidius chuckled.

“Getting them across will be easy!” The boy slapped a hand on Nera’s still floating cannon, and the girl responded by delivering a quick chop to his waist, “Ow, what the hell!”

“First, you’ve gotta treat her nicer, she’s not some big slab of metal like your stupid shield. Second, the cannon only floats thanks to a lot of gravity dust and my semblance.” Nera grabbed the weapon by the handle, and it stopped floating as she supported it, “I doubt I could float myself across and both of them back without getting exhausted. And if I fall off then we all get washed away down the rapids.”

“This thing has gravity dust in it?” Obsidius practically drooled over the cannon, while Nera looked up and down the river for any sign of a good crossing. Across the water, the fox faunus was bouncing up and down on a rock, as she eagerly awaited their plans.

“No swimming for Saffy! No swimming for Saffy!” The girl muttered in a sing-song tone as she sprang up and down on the balls of her feet. Dee watched with a slight smile on her face, and glanced over to the pair bickering on the other side. She wasn’t as confident that they would avoid a swim, especially when she noticed the boy on the other side seemed to still be in the process of drying off. She became even less confident when she heard the sound of sandals sliding against rock, and a squeal.

“Saffron!” Dee called out as her eyes snapped back to the rock her partner had been on. _Had_ been on. Saffron was already being swept away by the tumbling and twisting water. Her arms pumped and pulled, but the spot she’d fallen in was too close to the center of the rapids, and there were no groups to be found. Dee immediately bolted down the river to follow her. Across the water, Obsidius and Nera froze mid bicker at the shriek and the panicked name being shouted.

“Oh crap!” Obsidius stepped past Nera and broke into a sprint as he watched the orange hair breach the water and dip back under repeatedly. If it hadn’t been for Nera, he wasn’t sure he could have handled being dragged down river, and now this girl was sputtering just as he had. Except she was in an even faster part of the river, and they were coming up on more rocks.

“Dee, help!” Saffron shouted before the water pulled her down again, and the bat faunus stretched her wings out as she half hopped and half glided from rock to rock. She was aggressively searching for a good point to reach out for her new partner, but the width of the rapids only grew until it reached the sharp objects ahead.

Obsidius stopped dead as he realized he wouldn’t be able to catch up to her in time, but just as quickly as he had the realization the gears in his head ground onto another solution.

“Nera!” He shouted at the girl who was sprinting to catch up, “Give me your best homerun swing!” The boy quickly put himself between Nera and Saffron, his shield facing the ram girl as he glanced over his shoulder to check the angle.

“Right!” Nera nodded as she pulled her cannon up, her small arms swinging it with all the force she could manage. She twisted on the balls of her feet for extra momentum, and Obsidius bent his knees as the two slabs of metal collided. His aura flared up, as his semblance absorbed any extra kinetic energy the girl sent into him. Every bit that didn’t send him flying rippled through his aura, as he soared out over the water. For the second time that morning he plummeted down into the river, but this time he was charged and he had a plan. The moment he made contact with the water he released the energy, to be honest he couldn’t have held onto it for another second if he’d tried.

He had been launched a few meters further downstream than Saffron, and as he impacted the water and expelled the energy he created a massive shockwave. The water splayed out in every direction, and the rocks nearby cracked and shook. Saffron herself felt hit by the pulse, and the sheer force caused her to cough in pain, but Obsidius’ plan worked as he’d intended. The distrubed water slowed enough that he was able to reach out and grab the faunus as she rushed towards him, and with his other arm he set his shield between them and the rocks ahead. The metal clanged as it slammed into one and broke it to pieces, then again, and again before it finally wedged into a spot in the rapids.

The two clambered up and threw their arms over the top of the shield, just high enough to keep their heads above water. Both wheezed in a much-needed lung of air. Nera and Dee raced down the banks of the river, searching for the nearest part of the bank to retrieve their partners. At closest, the bank was 5 meters from the duo in the center of the river. Even with wings, Dee had no way to pull them back in. So both girls, on opposite banks, came to a stop staring at their partners floundering between them.

“What next?” Saffron sputtered, and Obsidius turned to her.

“I didn’t think that far.”

“You what-”

“Who needs a plan?” Obsidius chuckled, “I’ve got fighting spirit-” The shield beneath them lurched as the rock it was wedged against shifted. Saffron reached under the water, and her hand brushed against their thighs. Obsidius immediately flinched and the rock shifted a few more inches.

“Stay still!” Saffron demanded, her voice taking on a strange tone, but Obsidius only shook his head.

“Easy for you to say, you’re not getting felt up while you’re about to drown.” The boy struggled to readjust the shield, but before he could Saffron pulled a device up out of the water. “Where did you get that?”

“A girl needs to keep her secrets.” The fox winked as she pressed a button on the device and a bright light emitted from two prongs at the tip. With a flick of her wrist the light elongated, and then shrank again as she adjusted. “Dee, catch this and pull us to shore!”

“Okay-”

“Wait, Nera is tiny, but she’s super strong, toss it to her.” Obsidius motioned, and Saffron gave a questioning look.

“This is coming from the guy who just cannonballed into rapids with a 500 pound shield.” Saffron critiqued, and Obsidius smiled.

“Caught you, didn’t I?”

“Fine, if you insis-” The rock decided in that moment that this was no longer a matter of debate. The shield lurched one final time as the stone gave way, and the pair were pressed forward by the force of the rapids. Obsidius struggled, and reached out towards the shattered rock as time seemed to slow and panic set in on Saffron’s face. Then, there was a whistle of air, and a bright blue arrow slammed into the fragments of crumbling stone. From the point of impact the stone and water around it instantly froze solid, and the pair stopped again as the Regalia became locked in ice. Saffron hyperventilated for a moment, and Obsidius looked around for the source of the arrow, the ice seeming to bring him a burst of joy.

“You look like you could need a hand!” A voice called out from the tree line, and Obsidius turned to see a boy burst out of the treeline towards the river. The young man’s red hair whirled around as he skated down the banks before launching himself in the air and clicking his heels. The wheels of his skates shined a light blue and as he made contact with the water, the rapids froze into a wintery skate slalom. His arms crossed behind his back as he made platforms across the tumultuous water, the ice breaking away behind him just as fast as it formed. His wheels had been swapped out by a mechanism that lowered sharp ice skates, and it let him cleanly approach the pair.

“It’s ‘use a hand’, Radley.” A girl stepped out of the trees from the same spot as the skater, and tucked away a silver bow. She tucked some of her chestnut hair back as she pulled a pair of goggles up off her eyes and onto the top of her head.

“Yeah, yeah, alright folks, the train is leaving the station! If you’re gettin’ on, now’s your chance!” Radley jovially announced, reaching his hand out.

“Careful, don’t grab it barehanded!” Saffron warned as Radley reached for her odd light whip, the boy did one more circle, and grabbed the scarf around his neck. He snapped it around Saffron’s whip and she let it extend as he raced back to the shore. Obsidius held on to Saffron, and looked back longingly at the Regalia still frozen into the ice. He genuinely considered letting them drag Saffron to shore while he clung to his shield, but as Dee and the newly arrived archer grabbed Radley’s scarf he let go of his weapon. If he didn’t get it back later he could always... _painstakingly handforge_ another one. 

He reconsidered letting go again, but now it was out of reach.

“Hey, I’m Macchi, by the way.” The archer introduced herself as she pulled hand over hand and Dee nodded, “That’s Radley.”

“Nice to meet you, pretty wing lady.” The skater turned back and smiled past his sunglasses at Dee, speaking with a thick, rural Mistral accent, “We were wondering by and heard you needing help!”

“‘Wandering.’” Macchi corrected.

“That’s what I said!” Radley nodded along and pulled further while his companion rolled her eyes.

“Thank you both, so much.” Dee heaved back, and the pair grew closer to shore, “I’m just glad you showed up when you did, this whole situation could have been so much worse.”

As the trio on the shore played a brutal game of human tug-of-war with the river, a sound much more frantic than the roaring rapids of the river came into earshot. It sounded as if the ground itself had begun to quake. The trees shook and the grass began to be disturbed by whatever was approaching. The group was too preoccupied to acknowledge whatever was plowing toward them.

Matte Hattre plunged through the trees in a tizzy, rolling out into the clearing and immediately taking off again. He mumbled chaotically to himself, and sprinted up bank while glancing sporadically towards the treeline, hardly acknowledging the group before him.

“Giant teeth, deadly claws that already almost killed you once, lots of them, don’t fall in the river, don’t fall in the river! Oh, hi Obsidius. Don’t fall in the riv-” Matte’s sprint stopped on a dime, his shoes teetering in the muck to dig to a stop, as he stared at the boy in the river. For a moment, he was in genuine awe of the odds. Then, as if his body had been outrunning his mind, he had the first critical thought he’d had in almost 5 minutes. “Obsidius! Holy crap, Obsidius it’s you! I haven’t seen you in like 9 year-”

Then he was cut off from his first coherent thought in 5 minutes by Citrine bursting, in full diving leap, out of the trees behind him, and crashing into him full force. The fresh pair slammed at an angle into the group holding the scarf, and just like that the force yanked Obsidius and Saffron up into the shallows as two of the three pullers all landed butt first in the river mud. Macchi was left standing with one end of the scarf and a shocked look on her face as the other four rolled in a pile in front of her.

“God, it’s a good thing you’ve got so much cushion up top or you’d have killed me with that tackle!” Matte shouted as he pushed Citrine off him into the mud. The girl groaned and rolled into a sitting position.

“Well you didn’t have to _leave me_ when we were being hunted! We’re supposed to be partners!” Citrine scowled in both anger and sadness toward him, before she blushed and clutched her torso, “-and what kind of comment even is that?”

“Hello Citrine,” Saffron spoke from the mud as she crawled out of the water, “good to see your first day is going well too.”

“Oh, you’re the girl from last night!” Citrine stood up and went to help Saffron to her feet as Matte grumbled and swiped mud off his hat, “Did you find your crane faunus friend?” Matte froze mid flick as the top of his foot seemed to groan in a phantom pain. 

“No, but I found Dee! And she’s lovely!” Saffron presented the bat faunus with a wide arm gesture, and the girl responded by smiling sheepishly and subconsciously fidgeting her wings.

“Gee, great, friends, faunus, funtimes, can we focus on-” Matte shot back to his feet in one fluid and sudden motion, gasping aloud as he remembered the boy in the water, “Obsidius!”

“I mean, I guess we can focus on him-” Radley started to speak, and was literally shoved aside by Matte as the boy rushed to the waterfront.

“Holy shit, it’s really you!” Matte reached down and helped his childhood friend to his feet. The grey eyes, the sharp features, the ridiculous blue highlights that Matte always swore weren’t natural, this was him! The genuine article. His best friend he hadn’t seen in nearly a decade was here… soaking wet and covered in muck, but he was here!

“Do I know you?” Obsidius squinted at the taller boy. A sound came out from the hatter’s body, that didn’t seem to originate from his mouth, as his heart shattered. Matte's lips twitched in a twisted, frozen smile as he looked at the brawler before him. He wasn’t wrong. No one else was Obsidius, which just meant…

“You forgot me.” Matte practically deflated as he said it, and Obsidius raised an eyebrow.

“No, I don’t th-” The boy froze as Matte raised his hat back up to his head in defeat, “Wait... smug grin, stupid suit obsession, hairstyle that you definitely stole from me, and one gross, stupid, ugly, ridiculous top hat-”

“That was more adjectives than I expected.”

“Matte!” Obsidius lunged forward and picked Matte up in what was less of a hug and more of a cheering motion, “I never thought I’d see you again! Holy crap! You’re different! You’re like tall, and sort of put together… and not eight.” Obsidius set him back in the muck with a motion akin to a gentle drop, and Matte chuckled.

“Yeah, time tends to do that. And you… got bigger… and wear clothes that aren’t hand-me-downs anymore…That you apparently like to swim in, because you’re soaked… and now I’m soaked… But hey!”

The others nearby watched in amusement as Citrine glanced panickedly towards the trees, her tail fluffed out to twice it’s typical size. 

“I have no idea what is happening or how they know each other, but this is kind of adorable.” Saffron giggled and Dee nodded, while Radley skated in small circles and Macchi sat pretty much entirely lost.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m gonna be a huntsman! But dude, lemme tell you this has been a hell of an exam, and in terms of being right _here_ we were trying to get away from a pack of-” The nearby trees exploded from their roots as a pack of Beowolves ripped their way out. At their lead was a much bigger, much more battleworn beast, their alpha. They roared out loud as their eyes settled on their prey, namely: Matte, “- those.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Macchi shouted as she pulled her goggles down and readied her bow. A Beowolf near to her rushed forward, and she pulled back the string. Almost like magic, the empty space between the body and the string was filled by a green crystal arrow, and she loosed it directly into the mouth of the charging beast. It stumbled back as the arrow pierced through it’s cheek, but missed any critical points by a hair. Before Macchi could fire another, Radley rushed forward and flipped upwards. He bicycle-kicked, and the sharp ice skates returned to his feet, slicing upwards across the beasts jaw. His hand moved back to catch himself, and he twisted his body in something like a breakdancing windmill, slashing the Beowolf again as it stumbled from his first attack.

“Sorry,” Matte pulled out his sword breaker, “I was a bit preoccupied by a touching reunion!” The alpha dove towards Matte, but before it could reach him Citrine lunged forward and delivered a sucker punch to the creature’s flank. Matte didn’t know what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t that the small girl’s punch would launch the three meter beast aside like a toy. Obsidius cheered loudly as he pulled out his stun baton, and rushed up next to the girl.

“We meet back up after all these years and you bring me a whole pack of Beowolves?” Obsidius smiled as the alpha shook off some muck and growled at him, “If I’d have known we were doing gifts I’d have got you something.”

“Ha, really now?” Matte adjusted his hat and flicked his wrist revealing a pair of cards out of his sleeve.

“Nah, probably not.” Obsidius rushed in, and the alpha swiped at him. He slid under the giant set of claws, and swiped his stun rod down into the creature’s knee. It collided with a loud crack, and Obsidius turned with the momentum, his other arm swinging in for a back hand. Normally he had the Regalia’s shield to hit with, but this time only his arm smashed into the creature’s side, and he winced as a shock of pain shot into his wrist. But he didn’t slow, his body careening forward into a shoulder bash that stumbled the Alpha just a hair. The creature roared and bit down, but was cut off as a sharp metal card slammed into its jaw.

“I just got him back, ugly.” Matte loaded another card into the reservoir at the base of his sword, and the weapon hummed, “I can’t let you bite his head off yet!” He fired the other card into the creature’s chest, and Obsidius smiled as he attacked again.

Meanwhile, Saffron and Dee had the rest of the beasts distracted. Dee would leap up over them, her wings lending some loftiness to her motions, and fire volleys from the strange weapons she held. All while Saffron dipped and dodged past them, trailing her electrified whip behind her and tagging them here and there. Radley’s violent dance with the first Beowolf had been joined by the rest. Whenever he wasn’t spinning and flipping his body into them, or side stepping Saffron as she led them into his assaults, he was angling them into the dust arrows that kept getting fired by Macchi from the sidelines. 

“Ya’ know,” Radley slid under a leaping Beowolf like he was playing limbo, “This is kind of fun.” 

“See, I think a nice date or a good brunch is fun!” Saffron giggled as she cartwheeled over Radley, winking as she did, before landing on the other side and slashing her whip across the back of the Beowolf that had lunged at the boy, “This is more like… a busy day at work.”

“Just another day at the office, huh?” Macchi asked as she shot an arrow past them both into the arm of another Grimm. Dee swooped down, gliding in and jamming the blades of her weapons into the exposed shoulders of one of the distracted beasts. She clicked a button and the blades clicked. The flesh of the creature ripped apart as the blades slid apart like loose paneling, rapidly morphing her odd knife guns into two sharp, elegant fans. The Beowolf slumped down and dissolved as another lunged towards the bat, but with one quick motion of her arms, Dee used the two fans to boost herself up into the air away from her assailant. 

The wolf growled at her, and before Dee could maneuver further it slashed up and caught her foot in one of its paws. Dee careened down and was slammed into the soft soil. She shook her head as the impact rattled her. The Grimm reared back over her, baring its teeth down as its paw swiped towards the stunned girl. Its bared teeth were met with rapid pistol fire from the ground nearby.

“Hey big guy, you shouldn’t treat a girl rough if she doesn’t ask for it!” Saffron moved in closer, her whip sashaying through the air like a shining ribbon as it worked in gentle waves to keep the beast back. Every few motions the handle of the whip lined up just right, and Saffron pulled a trigger. The mechanisms in the handle would click and a bullet would zoom out past the dancing tendril of hard light and into the monster before her.

Across the river, Nera watched her fellow students fight as she considered her options. She could float across, but the strain would leave her spent and she probably wouldn’t be able to contribute much to the fight afterwards. She could provide cover fire, but the rounds from her cannon would be just as dangerous to the _people_ across the river as they would be to the _Grimm_ across the river. She growled in frustration and kicked a rock nearby. Then she caught sight of a thin tree, and crossed her arms as an idea came to her.

“You’re even nastier than those three from earlier!” Obsidius quipped as he punched and electrified the enraged Alpha, “But you aren’t any tougher!” His stun rod slammed down into its exposed knee, and the creature jerked back again, then the card stuck in its jaw exploded into a clump of jagged ice. Matte stood by, his fingers resting after they had just snapped to detonate his card, with a smirk on his face as he pulled loose another of the same suit and tossed it nonchalantly under the Beowolf’s leg. The ground under it froze and its foot became trapped as it struggled to free its lower jaw from the ice.

Citrine bolted past both boys, her legs carrying her across the riverbank in a flash before propelling her up into the air. She rotated her entire body in an arc and brought her leg down in a vicious axe kick to the beasts head, clamping it’s jaw shut with such force that the ice penetrated the top of its mouth and then subsequently shattered. The Alpha shuddered, gave one last glance up at the faunus as she backflipped off his shattered skull, before it collapsed to its feet and began to dissolve. Citrine landed with a thud next to Obsidius who cheered loudly, and then turned to high five the girl. The moment he turned she flinched dramatically and stepped back in fright.

“That was epic!” The boy smiled and Citrine glanced from his hand to his face a few times before she finally stretched out reluctantly and tapped her palm to his. 

“Get away from her!” Another voice, Dee’s, shouted from upriver, and the trio turned towards their companions. The other four Beowolves had organized themselves against their foes, and they seemed to have decided they were sick of Saffron’s annoyances. They had the faunus surrounded in a tight circle with no viable escape. Saffron shuttered in fear as Dee desperately searched for an opening in their formation. Macchi and Radley moved in to help her, but one wolf cut off their advance, delaying them as another rushed the fox. The bat dove down from above, and raised her fans to block the attack, catching it just in time to dig her heels into the mud and save her partner. But, even as Dee slashed the assailant in half, that left two more Beowolves, and Saffron only managed to slash one with her ribbon. Her flank was wide open.

“Watch out!” Obsidius was running towards the girl, but he was too far down shore, he wouldn’t make it in time. He’d just have to hope her aura could handle it, but if it couldn’t-

“Cannonball!” Nera’s high pitched wail echoed over them all as she and her half ton cannon plummeted down from above. She had a wicked smile across her face, as she adjusted the titanic weapon in something akin to an elbow drop. The Beowolf was too focused on Saffron to see it coming, and by the time it noticed the rapidly growing shadow, it was too late. The girl, and her accompanying weapon of mass destruction, hit the ground with what seemed like enough force to split the planet in two. The earth that was unfortunate enough to be at the point of impact bowed beneath her and the shockwave sent the remaining Beowolf tumbling into the sharp rocks in the rapids. Saffron was flung aside as well, crashing into Dee, who struggled to keep her footing as she caught her new friend. Nera gazed out at the dissolving Beowolf, whistling to herself in self-congratulations. 

“Now that, is how you nuke some fuckin’ Grimm.” She announced and turned back to the crowd as Obsidius jogged up to meet them, “Hey there, dimwit, what took ya’ so long?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, tiny sheep, I didn’t have the choice of flying in like a bomb!” Obsidius panted out in response, before he stretched and let out a bellowing laugh, “Which was so awesome by the way! How did you even do that?” z

“See that tree over there?” Nera pointed nonchalantly across the water at one tree that currently seemed to have seen better days, “It was a pretty good catapult, not gonna lie.” Nera smirked as Obsidius nodded his head.

“Okay, you and me? We’re gonna be great.” The boy put a fist out, and the ram rolled her eyes before bumping it gently with her own.

“Just stop calling me ‘tiny sheep’ and don’t be a tool, ‘kay?”

“Me? The great Obsidius Reid, a tool? I’m the whole tool _box_ , endlessly useful for all needs!”

“...No light bulbs in that toolbox, are there?” Nera smirked, and Obsidius just got a confused look. 

“Only the burning light of determina-”

“Still the same ego too, huh?” Matte chuckled as he walked up, and punched Obsidius’ shoulder, “Good to know your new family didn’t send you to- oh, I don’t know- therapy or something.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Obsidius crossed his arms, and Citrine was the one to respond.

“Are we sure he’s the one who needs therapy?”

“Coming from the girl who cried all the way here?” The hatter quipped back, “Plus, what do you know, you met me a whole thirty minutes ago.”

“I mean, if you’re anything like when we were kids…” Obsidius shrugged and Saffron responded nearby with a giggle.

“Oh, yes, let’s all get it out of the way.” Matte sighed, “Hi everyone, I’m Matte, I’ve been reunited with my childhood best friend for 3 minutes and we’re already ribbing on each other. Nice to meet you. This is Citrine, she has a saline problem.”

“A sailing problem?” Radley slid to a stop in front of Citrine who stepped back reflexively as her eyes watered, “I have never been on a boat!”

“And now we have a foreign boy who looks like Ragu, and doesn’t understand words, cool.” Matte pat Obsidius’ shoulder, while the boy mouthed the word ‘Ragu’ with a confused look on his face, “let’s see that brings us up to: Three faunus; one bat, one cat-”

“I’m a fox!”

“Don’t care. -and one sprinkler, Citrine, sorry I brought her to rain on our parade. And then back in the human category: there’s Nera, she and I have met, and that’s all you need to know about that interaction. And last but not least! The two street rats who finally made it big! Gosh, we are a rag tag group. But hey, at least we’re all in this together, right gang?”

“Right!” Radley cheered, and Matte rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t count me?” Macchi raised an eyebrow, and Matte laughed.

“Yes, because what an impression you’ve made.” Matte stretched, and Obsidius chuckled.

“Dude, I spent ages telling Lyme and Weiss about you. I thought you’d have forgotten all about me after the Reids picked me up, but I never figured you’d wind up here!”

“Yeah, well- wait… Weiss… like Schnee? And the Reids?” Matte stepped back as the gears turned in his head, “As in, Maximus and Opalina Reid? Reid Industries and Arms Reids? The folks that worked my parents to the bone Reids? _Those_ Reids?” The hatter seemed to swell in frustration with every iteration of the question, “The rich and pompous who laughed, kicked, and spit on us street rats?! _Those Reids_?”

“I don’t think that pops ever spit on anybody to be real with you, and my mom is kind of scared of germs.”

“Your what?!”

“He’s gonna blow.” Nera crossed her arms, but immediately stumbled as the ground beneath them shifted and raised.

“Nera, right?” Saffron spoke as the group all began to wobble, “Your weapon doesn’t have earthquakes as a side effect, does it?”

“Not as far as I’m aware. Maybe it’s the hot head with the big hat.” The girl jabbed. Matte’s focus seemed to be anywhere but on the quaking ground as he went on.

“You mean to tell me that while I was starving and stealing my way to survival, you got to eat out of the silver spoon for almost a _decade_?”

“Matte, I don’t think now’s the time…” Citrine mumbled, prodding the boy from behind.

“Not now, you damn crybaby! I’ve got bigger fish to fry than you and your stupid-” The water of the rapids began to spill onto the banks as the floor of the river began to rise. The mud and dirt around the edges cracked and slumped away, the source of the tremors coming into view. Beneath the raging flow of the river was a Grimm bigger than any of the students had ever seen. Its reptilian face, lined with algae, split into a heinous, jagged mouth and its six eyes, akin to the embers of a bonfire flared to life. Steam bellowed out from multiple openings that rose into view between the jagged boulders that erupted upon its rough exterior. Before them stood a beast that was in a class of its own, and it was angry. Matte’s ramble screeched to a halt, he could only think of one word at that moment:

“-turtle?” 

The Grimm shrieked, an echoing, guttural noise that sounded like a cross between a bull and a concert hall full of the world’s bassiest brass. The rumble tore into their bones as the monster shook the mud off its head, and trained its eyes down at the group below them.

“Run!” Macchi was the first to speak as the beast reared back on two feet, its massive legs making a violent sucking sound as they tore out of the river bed. The group scattered in all directions, each of them making for anywhere that wasn’t where the massive turtle beast was aiming. The ground gave way under its weight, as it crashed its talons down through the spot they had just been gathered.

“Someone isn’t happy we interrupted his nap!” Nera slid over a boulder into cover as the creature shook again and struggled to remove its front feet from where they had just slammed into the bank.

“Genbu!” Radley practically cheered as he skid to a stop near the cotton adorned powerhouse, “In Mistral they have legends about Genbu carrying islands on their backs, and that they would ferry people and Grimm to new lands.” The massive turtle turned and released a hissing sound before its neck suddenly extended like a piston and its jaws snapped less than a meter from Radley.

“Well it isn’t calmly ferrying anything right now!” Macchi turned and stumbled over a tangle of tree branches as she aimed her bow. She fired a yellow arrow directly into the turtle's outstretched neck, but all it did was shatter against the surface with a light crackle of energy. The massive monster turned its head towards her as it again let out a hiss, but this time it was accompanied by an odd clicking sound. Macchi cringed and fumbled towards the rocks where Dee and Saffron had joined Nera. The Genbu swung its head after her as the clicking grew louder. Macchi managed to dive behind the stone just as the massive turtle unleashed a jet of water out of its maw. The water hit the rock at such speed and with such heat that it boiled away the moment it lost its momentum, and it left a chunk of stone sliced clean in half.

“That thing can shoot _fucking water jets_?” Nera exclaimed, popping her head up to look through the divet in the rock.

“Oh, that is _awesome_!” Obsidius stared in amazement, readying his stun rod, “I bet you’d make an amazing turtle stew!” Just as Obsidius was about to launch into battle, a card flew out and struck his weapon from his hand.

“Did I say I was done with you?!” Matte growled, his hand still extended, “You up and leave me to go live the high life and you think I’m just gonna let you off that easy?!”

“Are you crazy?” Obsidius growled as he reached down to pick his stun rod back up, and Matte swiftly spartan kicked him in the back.

“I think crazed is a fair assumption, yeah!” Matte glared as Obsidius stood up and wiped muck off his shoulders, “You left! You left, and you never came back! And while I struggled and worried about how I was gonna _eat_ or when my parents were gonna come home, you had enough money to buy out my entire _neighborhood_! I mean, your stupidass weapon is worth more than the entire shack we grew up in!”

“Excuse you! I built that weapon by hand!” Obsidius pointed a finger in Matte’s face, “And I never saw _you_ writing _me_ any letters!”

“Hand-built with the highest quality materials Atlas could shit out! Not a spot of rust! And as for the letters-” Matte flung the balled up scraps he kept in his pocket at Obsidius’ face, “I never knew where to send the shitty things!”

“Is now the time?” Nera shouted at the two, as she dove from stone to stone to avoid the high pressure jets of the massive Grimm.

“No time like the present!” Matte swung and punched Obsidius in the jaw, but to his shock Obsidius took it and crashed his own fist into Matte’s stomach. The hatter responded in kind, and the pair’s shouts mixed into the sounds of combat nearby as they struggled and fought with each other in the mud. While the two tangled with each other in a swear-filled exchange of assaults, the rest of the prospective students struggled with the colossal Grimm in front of them.

None of Macchi’s arrows even left a scratch on the beast's thick shell, and the few soft spots it had weren’t taking much more damage either. Radley was doing his best to stay in its blindspot. His skates raked through the armor like putty, but they weren’t able to cut deep enough to really damage anything beneath. The turtle Grimm didn’t even slow its march onto the bank as it let out a bellowing roar, and Dee and Saffron opened fire on it from the rocks nearby. Nera had stepped out of cover, and as soon as the Grimm turned their way she broke into a sprint. She cleared the distance in a much faster time than one would expect from someone her size, and just as Radley slid past her, she swung her weapon up into the Grimm’s side with a massive bash.

The creature stumbled to its side, and one of its legs slid down into the muck of the river again. Its entire weight rotated and it revealed a long, thick tail which swung to try and counterbalance. However, just on its flank were three more students.

“Duck!” Citrine, one of the three called out, but Obsidius and Matte were too busy struggling in a pseudo-sumo match to hear. In the exact moment Obsidius put Matte in a headlock, both of them noticed the tree sized tail flying into their faces, sending both boys careening into the nearby treeline.

“Oh shi-” They both echoed the words in unison and were slammed backwards by the force. The two boys disappeared into the brush as the turtle shook its head from the impact. Nera smirked as the monster stumbled, but her smugness vanished as its neck stretched out and the head snapped to its new target: her. She cursed quietly as it clicked again, and dove to the side as the supersonic water jet returned. The stream slashed through the space she’d been and barreled past into the woods cleaving a tree apart. Obsidius and Matte both dove in separate directions as the stream beamed past and shattered the oak behind them.

Citrine stumbled back to her feet as the turtle reoriented and stepped over her. She squeaked, and clumsily stepped backwards through the shade brought from the massive Grimm above. Her breathing quickened and she glanced back and forth to the four legs around her. She had a few avenues of escape, but as the monster shuffled and moved she couldn’t pick a single way out from underneath it. She could feel her heart accelerate, and she hunched as her panic rose.

“Hey, get out of there!” Radley skated past just outside the Grimm’s reach and called to the small faunus. She covered her ears and began to mumble something as the boy made another pass. “You’re not safe!” She tried to focus. She had to breathe. She had to move. There was so much happening, and so many people. She had fought Grimm before. Had to do something.

The “Genbu” stepped again, and its massive leg stamped down just a few feet next to her. She let out a short scream in shock, and her fist flew on reflex. The punch landed with a sickening crack and the turtle shrieked as its knee buckled. Citrine squeaked again, as the gigantic weight slumped above her, but this finally drove her feet into motion. She broke for the opposite side of the creature, and slid out into the ankle deep water and mud that rested just behind and beside it. Her body twisted back around, and before she could re-engage, Radley slid past her icing the ground around the turtle.

“Pretty raccoon lady, I am glad you got out from under the Genbu!” The boy gave her a thumbs up as he back tucked over the nearest gargantuan foot, and brought down his skates. The dust shifted by some hidden mechanism and the blades immediately turned red hot as they drove into the toe below them. The beast wailed as it pulled away from the heat. Its hind foot slid back in the mud, and the dancer sidestepped casually as the weight collapsed. The monster strained as it attempted to support its entire weight on just its front two legs, releasing a guttural groan. Before it could regain footing, Nera took the opportunity and slammed her cannon into one of the remaining front legs. The knee bent backwards with a loud crack, and the Grimm hissed. Then Saffron’s whip tangled around the final leg, and she and Dee held on as tight as possible. Radley slid to a stop near the side of the creature’s head, he lowered his glasses with a smirk as the three blazing red eyes locked to his.

“Ha, you may be legend, but we are-” A thunderous snap resounded across the bank of the river as the jaws of the Genbu slammed shut around Radley, consuming him whole. The sound froze the two brawling childhood friends in the treeline as their heads slowly turned to meet the scene that had just unfolded. There was a chilling silence, if only for a moment.

“Holy shit!” Nera cried out as the Grimm munched its jaw like it was grinding lettuce in its mouth. Saffron screamed, and Dee had to shout for her to concentrate as the fox loosened her grip on her own whip. The turtle tugged them both to their knees as it lifted its foot again, and its body started to rise, struggling on the knee that was now clearly shattered thanks to Nera. Macchi let out something akin to a battle cry as she drew three arrows at once.

“Spit. Him. Out!” The girl pulled back and the multicolored shafts of dust materialized for only an instant before they loosed into the closed jaws. Two slammed into the monster’s face, but a third flew past towards the strange vent holes on the top of the shell. The dust exploded into chunks of boulders and the turtle cried out in pain, opening its jaws.

“I will never tease Genbu again!” Radley shouted from his place in the Grimm’s mouth, clinging to its tongue.

Matte and Obsidius turned to face each other once more. Matte still had his fists raised, but the shock of Radley being eaten had slowed them to a stop, but before he could restart the fight, his ear was met with the back of Obsidius’ hand. The slap dazed the hatter as he stumbled back to regain his composure. Obsidius pointed a finger in his old friend’s face and, with a grin that grated Matte to his very core, began his speech.

“Matte, now is no time for this useless battle between you and me. It’s time to do what heroes do, and save that shield!” Obsidius turned and sprinted toward the bank of the river, as Matte tried to shake off the impact, but his head continued to ring. Obsidius had a plan, and he had to make sure it worked, so he couldn’t have Matte trying to slug him.

“Nera, Dee, Saffron!” Obsidius slid to a stop between the three girls, as Macchi rapidly fired her arrows at the various ports on the turtle's back, trying to keep it too shocked to swallow Radley.

“You figure out your lover’s quarrel?” Saffron muttered as she and Dee tried to control the tree trunk sized leg they still had a whip around.

“I’ve got a plan, but I need your help!” The boy turned to Nera, “I’m gonna need another boost!” Nera raised an eyebrow, and Obsidius quickly explained. Meanwhile, Citrine had leapt onto the turtle’s face and grasped both her hands on either jaw doing her best to pry open the mouth for Radley. She shouted and pulled, and heaved the mouth open like a mechanics jack.

“Hello Raccoon lady!” Radley reached out and grabbed at Citrine as the tongue he held onto wriggled and shifted under him. 

“I’m a tanuki, and my name is Citrine!” The faunus jammed a foot down to replace her hand, and grabbed onto Radley. She heaved, and before she could remove him entirely an explosion went off in one of the vents from Macchi’s arrows. The jaws moved and Citrine lost her grip. She had two options in that moment, let go of Radley and avoid the beak, or one much worse option. She dove forward into the mouth and wrapped her arms around the dancer as the turtle clamped its mouth shut. The two struggled a moment as the creature shook and lifted its head.

“Hold your breath!” Citrine managed to say before a loud gulp emanated across the river bank.

“Did you just swallow my partner?” Macchi roared at the turtle, and Genbu responded by roaring loudly back at the girl, showcasing its now empty mouth. Macchi groaned and drew another arrow. Then before she could fire, a shadow crossed over her as Dee took to the sky.

“Nera!” Obsidius shouted as he positioned himself on the small girls cannon. She had laid her weapon down across a boulder, and as he gave the signal she rushed towards him and jumped into the air. The boy braced as she slammed both feet down, and catapulted Obsidius into the air. Just under Nera, tied to one of the cannon’s handles, was Saffron’s whip, and the pure force of the lever tugged the Grimm forward and off balance again. As it wobbled, Dee reached a hand out to Obsidius, and using the last of her lift swung the boy up the last stretch onto the back of the beast. He landed on one knee, and used a hand to grab at the boulders and crags that scattered across the shell. A few feet away, nestled among the cracks of the creature’s rocky carapace was the key part of Obsidius’ plan.

“I will never leave you in a river again.” Obsidius stepped up the rocks, the same rocks that used to make up the rapids of the river, including one that had a massive slab of Atlesian steel frozen to it. His stun rod came up and with a cocky grin he slammed it down into the activation slot, and with a twist of the handle the familiar sound of the Regalia transforming filled his ears. “Ya’ hear that, shellface, that’s the sound of victory! Cause I’m Obsidius Reid-” The metal blades of the Regalia slammed down into the shell below it with the full force of its motors, and, with a crunch, cut through the ice around it and slashed deep into the Grimm like a knife through butter, “-And now, you’re done for!”

Obsidius slammed his other hand to the handle of the weapon, and pushed the blade as deep as he could. He was met with a cry of pain from the creature as it tried to shake the razor sharp greatsword free. Obsidius waited until he felt the force of the creature moving and then he smiled even wider. His semblance was simple, and he had been using it all day. He could redirect any energy exerted upon him, so the moment the titan shifted he channeled every bit of force into the Regalia, and with a sickening crack the greatsword slashed a meters-wide opening into the massive armor, splitting the carapace wide open.

“Damn!” Nera smiled as Obsidius roared in victory, and the turtle shook in pain.

“Did you know he could do that?” Saffron asked from her spot next to the small girl, and Nera chuckled.

“For any partner of mine, you can't expect less. Also, no, I had no idea!” She shot a fist in the air in a silent cheer for her partner as he slashed at their quarry. Amidst his slashing and pomp, and out of the massive gash he had created, two soaked figures clambered out of the opening.

“I have now been eaten in my life.” Radley muttered as he and Citrine pulled each other out to the rim of the cut, and before they could pull further Obsidius reached down and grabbed Citrine by the wrist.

“We’re even now, so take a seat and watch how a hero does things!” Obsidius shouted as he in one motion slung the two up and off the turtle. Citrine flipped midair, and Radley slid and straightened his trajectory. Both landed on their feet in the water below, and looked back up to watch as Obsidius rodeo’d the now thrashing Genbu.

“Hey, asshole,” A voice interrupted the showcase from the treeline, “And the turtle he’s riding on! You interrupted our conversation. I said it once, and I’ll say it again, Obsidius _Reid_ , I’m not done with you yet!” Matte’s wrathful words seemed to hail his cards into a single volatile heap. The metal rectangles twisted and writhed as he growled and leveled his gaze at his target. The gash Obsidius had made in the shell began to steam, as it levelled its own gaze back at the hatter. With a flick of his wrist, and a single shout, the chaotic maelstrom launched at the Grimm… and Obsidius. The turtle was ready to counter with a stream of supersonic water, the ominous guttural clicking in its throat returning, but the water had a new way to escape now. In an instant, Obsidius was propelled a hundred feet in the air by a massive jet of pressurized water from below, only barely catching the force with his weapon, as the amalgam of cards collided with the shell, erupting into a kaleidoscope of explosive color and mass. It was awe-inspiring, the pure force of Matte’s tumultuous deck of dust hit with the force of a freight train. Large chunks of the shell shattered, sending shards careening in all directions.

“Thanks for the light show, Hattre! Now let’s finish strong!” Obsidius yelled from his suspended state. With a grin and the flick of a small switch on the handle, he raised his sword to come down full force on the exposed flesh of the beast.

“Oh would you just go fuc-” Matte was drowned out as Obsidius screamed downward, his sword flared for a moment in blue light and a blaze overtook the blades of the massive weapon. The boy and his sword scorched through the exposed flesh of its target and tore through its weakened body at the neck. Obsidius reappeared on the underside of the turtle and splashed into the river. His impact sizzled as it met the water and sent mud and algae splattering all over the hatter and everyone else within range.

There was a moment of silence as the turtle seemed to stand strong, as if nothing had happened. The entire group stood in- now soaked- confusion. Then the Genbu crumpled down, its six red eyes sizzling for only one more moment as its head and neck separated from one another, and the strange flesh of the Grimm began to melt away to ash. There was one more moment of quiet as the entire group stared at the quickly emptying spot, in awe that any of the last ten minutes were even real.

“Are you kidding me!” Obsidius interrupted as he lifted the Regalia and slammed it into the soft soil of the riverbank, “I was dying for turtle soup! Grimm are so selfish they never stay around long enough for you to even try and cook them.”

The entire group stared in confusion at the boy who had felled the massive creature, as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

“So you’re like… crazy, right?” Macchi raised an eyebrow as she lifted her goggles revealing the only part of her still dry beneath.

“Crazy strong.” Obsidius pointed his thumb towards himself and gave a big, doofy grin, “Slaying big bads is my specialty, so you’re lucky I was here.”

“Oh, yeah, we’re so lucky.” Matte growled as he swiped some muck off his face, and shrugged his jacket off his shoulders. He folded it slowly and gently, as Obsidius laughed off the comment, then set the fabric down in a dry spot.

“Hey, you definitely didn’t make it easy.” Obsidius stretched, all while Matte rolled up his moist sleeves, “The whole fighting cause I got adopted by rich people, I mean that’s super dumb, but if you hadn’t cracked off that shell I couldn’t have saved the day-” Obsidius turned towards Matte as the boy adjusted his brown bangs to stay out of his face and then looked at the gloating greatsword wielder, “-so thanks, Matte. It’s good to have you bac-”

Matte’s fist collided with Obsidius’ jaw, and the Atlas boy spun halfway around from the force.

“Distraction’s gone, time for business.” Matte held his fists up in a sloppy boxing stance, a cocky grin spreading across his face as Obsidius rubbed his jaw, “Let’s see if that money bought you a backbone, _Reid_.” 

“You-” Obsidius scoffed as he cracked his neck, “A backbone?... Hah! Who the hell do you think I am!?” Obsidius rushed forward and shoulder bashed Matte to the ground, and just like that the two were back to fighting and scrapping like grade schoolers with more malice.

“So… that’s your partner?” Radley asked Citrine, who was now sitting on her haunches in the river water tearing up.

“...Yes.” The girl lowered her head in sadness, as the struggles amidst the mud filled the space where they had just fought for their lives.

~

The wind whistled peacefully atop the cliff face of the Emerald Forest, as Ozpin and Glynda watched the proceedings of the exam from their scrolls. Glynda’s face stayed stone cold, watching in analytical curiosity. Ozpin, on the other hand, showed hints of amusement as he watched the scene of the river bank.

“This is looking to be an interesting year, wouldn’t you agree, Glynda?” The headmaster commented, sipping from his mug without his eyes leaving the screen.

“You say that every year, sir.” Goodwitch responded in turn.

“True, but nonetheless, I think this year is lining up to be… special.”

“Why do you say that this time?”

“Because currently eight of our students have just slain what is certainly one of the oldest Grimm in the forest without much more than a few bruises and a little stomach acid… and because two of them are, as we speak… biting each other?” Ozpin squinted as if to get a better view, and Glynda leaned over his shoulder to see the proceedings. Ozpin smiled bemusedly, and Glynda let out an already irritated groan. Ozpin was right, this would certainly be… special.


End file.
